Tips for choosing clean pork with 3 'no's'

When raw, super lean pork will have a fishier smell than clean pork.

The following tips will help families choose clean pork without growth hormones, lean meat additives, or preservatives:

Pork accounts for 30-50% of each family's weekly diet, but with a series of information about antibiotics, salbutamol, and clenbuterol being added to food to stimulate pigs to grow quickly and create lean meat, consumers are confused.

When you see lean meat and a thin layer of fat, there is a high risk that the pig has been fed lean meat-creating substances.

Clean meat is simply meat that is not fed with growth-promoting feed, has no residual drugs and chemicals that pigs eat, has no parasites and bacteria, and no preservatives. The easiest way is to find a reputable place to buy meat with a known origin. If you have to buy it at a flea market, you should keep in mind a few tips:

Identify pork fed with growth promoters and lean meat additives

Clean pork usually has thick skin and thick fat. However, some places have imported super lean pigs, so consumers should not confuse super lean pork with chemically processed super lean pork. To distinguish between these two types of meat, you can rely on your senses and feelings when processing.

Taste: When raw, super lean pork will have a fishier smell than clean pork.

Check the fat layer: Super lean pigs usually have a thin layer of fat under 1cm and loose, the lean part sticks close to the skin. As for normal pork, the fat is usually 1.5 - 2cm thick, clear white to ivory in color, crispy and not greasy like fatty pork fed with growth-promoting bran.

Therefore, if you observe that the meat is all lean, with the lean and fat parts separated, you should not buy it.

Clean pork usually has a thick layer of fat and high elasticity.

Color: Clean pork has a bright pink color while super lean pork is often an unusually deep red color, bright and shiny. The skin may have red spots.

Check the meat: With clean pork, the meat should be firm, elastic when pressed, have even grain, and the cut surface of the meat should be dry.

Meat containing banned residues is often drier, tougher and less elastic. Pigs fed lean meat enhancers will feel like they have water retention inside, the lean meat will form lumps, and yellow liquid may flow out when sliced.

Another simple test is to cut the meat into 3-4 cm thick pieces. If it cannot stand straight, then it is meat that has been given growth hormones.

When cooking: Clean pork when boiled has clear water, no dirty scum, when fried the meat expands, does not release water, has a fragrant smell.

Super lean meat or meat fed with growth-enhancing feed when boiled often has a lot of scum, the water has a foul smell, when fried it releases a lot of water, and is dry to eat.

If pigs are fed antibiotics by farmers, the meat will give off a recognizable antibiotic smell when cooked.

Meat with preservatives

When meat is spoiled, some sellers often "magically" turn spoiled meat into fresh meat by marinating it with borax, saltpeter... to deceive consumers' senses.

Tapeworm nest in pork leg

When marinated with these substances, the meat will look bright red but will no longer have the natural stickiness, the meat fibers will be firm, hard, and lose elasticity.

In addition, when cut deep inside, the meat is quite soft, oozing liquid, slightly dark in color, and has a smell. This type of meat when washed will turn pale and have a very unpleasant fishy smell, the fat is yellow.

When cooked, spoiled meat juice will be cloudy, smell bad, and the surface fat will separate into small circles instead of large floating scum like fresh meat.

Meat infected with parasites

The most common is pork infected with worms. Consumers need to observe carefully before buying, especially meat with fat tendons such as shoulder meat, thigh meat, head meat... If you see grains like sticky rice (worm larvae concentrated in bags), you should not buy.

When slicing meat, you can cut the meat along the grain. If you see small white sacs between the fibers of the meat or muscle, you need to remove them immediately and not continue processing because this food has been infected with tapeworm cysts.

According to Vietnamnet.vn