Is Fat More Toxic Than Ractopamine? A Discussion of Healthy Concepts for Meat Consumption

For a time I sold black pork raised by small farmers at a farmers' market, and I experienced firsthand the modern consumer's "fear of fat."

Most customers who came to the market, the moment they saw fat, their first reaction was: "Why is it so fatty? ... It's too fatty, I won't know how to cook it!", "I'm already too fat, I can't eat fatty meat", "Meat this fatty is very unhealthy!" ... Because of health reasons, fear of getting fat, or not knowing how to cook it, they always shied away from fatty meat.

Hating fat and seeking lean: the modern person's fear of fat

The reason for this, I think, is probably thanks to modern dietary education: fat became the number one culprit blamed for all diseases, so under this wave of fat-phobia, "fatty meat" gives people the poor impression of "animal fat," as if one extra bite would immediately pile up unhealthy saturated fatty acids. Unlike foods such as French fries and potato chips, which hide fat beneath a crispy, tasty exterior, making people not notice the greasiness as they eat one after another, while still feeling they are taking in healthy, plant-based, unsaturated fatty acids...

The delicacies and meat dishes that in the poor old days one could only drool over during festivals have in the blink of an eye become terrifying foods that modern people avoid like the plague. We have also gradually lost the skill of cooking fatty meat, and fat has become a completely useless "waste meat."

Thus, with the modern person's fear of fat, the price of lean meat has risen steadily. In order to cater to the market, livestock farmers have naturally resorted to an endless array of methods to increase the lean-meat ratio of their products.

On the one hand, livestock farmers pursue speed, shortening the animals' rearing time; on the other hand, they feed excessive amounts of feed to seek a high "feed conversion rate," but they also do not want the animals to grow fat as a result and hurt their marketability. Once something like "lean meat powder" appears - a miraculous elixir that can increase lean meat, reduce fat, and lower excrement so as to bring animals to market early - operators naturally flock to it. At most, one could say that lean meat powder is merely a means that evolved in this era of "hating fat and seeking lean."

Yet when everyone fiercely debates "is lean meat powder actually toxic" and "the safe dosage of lean meat powder," has anyone thought that we should return to the source and ask: why do farmed animals need lean meat powder? Why do people avoid fat like the plague? Is the harm of fat to health really greater than that of ractopamine? Were our past ideas that fat is completely useless and a health hazard really correct?

Photo/ Yu Fu-chun

Natural animal fat is better than processed plant fat

First we must face the fact that: although we do everything possible to escape fat, it is still one of the human body's important nutrients, providing the main source of calories, protecting the internal organs, assisting the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, and performing the most important function of all: forming human hormones. A lack of fat causes symptoms such as dry skin, reduced gallbladder function, and insufficient hormone secretion.

Sources of dietary fat can be divided into two kinds, animal fat and plant fat. Animal fat is the oil of meat and internal organs (fatty meat is one of these), contains relatively more saturated fatty acids, and appears as a stable solid at room temperature that does not easily spoil. Plant fat is mostly extracted from oil-rich seeds such as soybeans, peanuts, and olives, contains higher unsaturated fatty acids, and appears as a liquid at room temperature.

In many people's thinking, they believe that "plant oil is better than animal oil," because many kinds of "unsaturated fatty acids" are essential to the human body, while "saturated fatty acids" only become a burden on the figure. Guided by this idea, people in Taiwan use less and less lard for cooking and more and more olive oil instead.

In fact, more and more scientific research confirms: healthy fat comes from natural, unrefined oils; the French, who consume high amounts of animal fats such as butter and lard, actually have a lower probability of suffering cardiovascular disease than Americans who consume large amounts of salad oil. (Source: You Ate Wrong, Of Course You'll Get Sick! Author: Chen Chun-hsu)

The reason for this is that many plant oils, including salad oil, are extracted using chemical solvents (such as n-hexane), and then go through processing such as refining, hydrogenation, and oxidation to make the oil stable and slow to spoil, but this produces problems of chemical residue and trans fats, creating even greater health risks; by contrast, animal fat, because it does not need to be processed and extracted, is a natural and healthy source of fat. Moreover, new research shows that animal fat contains trans-vaccenic acid, which has an anti-cancer effect; after being converted by the human body, trans-vaccenic acid becomes an unsaturated fatty acid essential to the human body: linoleic acid, and this nutrient has a positive inhibitory effect on cancer and diabetes. (Source: Swiss agricultural research institute)

Therefore, compared with industrially produced plant oil, the fat contained in fatty meat is a better and healthier source of fat for the human body.

Photo/ Hsieh Yi-lin

Meat with a natural fat-to-lean ratio is the good ingredient

A simple logic: eating good ingredients is the first step to a healthy diet. This is true of vegetables and fruit, and true of meat as well. And what is a good ingredient? Undoubtedly, being natural and additive-free is the first requirement of a good ingredient. Therefore, meat that is naturally raised, does not use lean meat powder, and shows a natural fat-to-lean ratio is undoubtedly the best source of fat and protein.

In the actual process of developing black pork raised by small farmers, we found that black pigs raised according to traditional methods (including lengthening the rearing time, feeding kitchen scraps and abundant crops, and eliminating the use of antibiotics and other drugs) show an excellent natural fat-to-lean ratio. In pigs raised this way, the fat is rich in collagen, especially springy and tender, and full of aroma, completely different from the soft, mushy, greasy texture of pork fat on the market!

Many mothers at first cannot accept pork with such a high proportion of fat, making excuses that their children surely would not dare to eat it, but as long as a piece of sliced boiled pork for tasting is put into the child's mouth, nine times out of ten they will eat one piece after another, completely casting aside their fear of fat, and the parents then buy according to the child's preference and become long-term supporters.

A good idea from consumer feedback: rendering lard

If you still do not dare to put thick pieces of fat into your mouth, there is another way to cook fatty meat, which is the way Grandma rendered lard when we were children. Lard is a natural oil that withstands high-temperature cooking, suitable for Chinese cooking such as high-heat stir-frying and deep-frying, and the lard rendered from healthy, naturally raised pigs is undoubtedly an excellent source of animal fat. Rendering lard is actually not difficult; simply cut the fat into small pieces, put them in the pan and heat, and the oil will naturally slowly render out; after it cools, put it in the refrigerator to chill; or before each stir-fry, cut a few pieces of fat and put them in the pan to release their aroma.

In fact, as long as we are not afraid of the trouble and put some care into cooking it, we can obtain ample nutrition from fatty meat, and there will be no problem of excessive fat intake, gaining both health and deliciousness.

Conclusion

As far as health is concerned, the modern person's fear of getting fat certainly has some basis, but it cannot be denied that there is also a somewhat pathological aesthetic in it, preferring to be thin to the point of skin and bones like a paper person rather than have a bit of flesh on the body. In addition, fear of trouble is also a characteristic of modern people; the ingredients they buy are all washed and cut, and at home they just open the package and throw it into the pot, so naturally fatty-and-lean meat that needs a bit more processing does not win their favor; combined with the mistaken health ideas of the past, the claim that equates fatty meat with harmful fat is even more the main reason fatty meat cannot be accepted.

In fact, these incorrect ideas and attitudes toward life have greatly increased the market demand for lean meat, with supply falling short of demand, which is what led livestock operators to take crooked paths and use lean meat powder, this chemical agent that truly has an enormous impact on health. Ironically, when people are in a hurry to verify whether lean meat powder is toxic, they never turn back to think: could fat really be more toxic than ractopamine?