Pig breeds most suitable for making twice-cooked pork are on the verge of extinction

About 85% of local pig populations showed a downward trend, and 31 species were endangered and in danger of extinction.

"Dongpo meat is the highest realm of meat."

This is a golden sentence that is praised by the vast number of "goodies." The highest level of Dongpo meat is of uniform color, crisp flesh, and entrance, and it does not feel greasy at all. As a classic recipe for Hangbang cuisine, Dongpo Meat has been one of the most common dishes on the table for Chinese feasts and dinners since the dawn of Su Dongpo a thousand years ago.

No matter what pork is used to make Dongpo meat, it can achieve this kind of realm. It is widely known in China's food industry that authentic Dongpo meat must use the local pig breed “Zhutouwu”.

"Zhutouwu" is the famous Jinhua pig and one of the "four famous pigs" in China has the reputation of "Chinese Panda Pig".

Jinhua pigskin is thin, has fine bones, and is exquisite in meat quality. What's more important is the high intramuscular fat content and even distribution. Professor Chen Qingming from the College of Animal Science and Technology at China Agricultural University told the Oriental Outlook Weekly that the higher intramuscular fat means more fragrant when cooking, and that when stewed into Dongpo pork, it can guarantee fleshy and crispy flesh.

It is also true that "Jinhua ham" preserved in Zhejiang Jinhua, the main producing area of ​​"two heads of Wu", can be heard at home and abroad. As early as ten years ago, "Two-headed Ukrainian" was designated as a special breed of Jinhua ham.

The Sichuan classic twice-cooked pork, which is famous for its Dongpo meat, has also enjoyed a reputation for the past millennia. In 2008, in a certain version of the culinary review, twice-cooked pork was rated as the Sichuan's favorite 12-course dish. But what the “eating lovers” may not all know clearly is that even though they have spread all over the country, the twice-cooked pork they eat may not be the most authentic.

In the eyes of many Sichuan cuisine masters, Sichuan pigs, Chenghua pigs, must be selected to make the most authentic twice-cooked pork. Chenghua pig is black and has a head, a thick neck, short legs, a wide back, and a large ass. The twice-cooked pork, as its name suggests, must be cooked twice, which requires that the meat is not too thin, otherwise the meat may become harder and harder when the meat is cooked twice. Chenghua pork is very fat, high intramuscular fat content, so to make the twice-cooked pork can be soft and delicious.

A message from the local media in Sichuan in November 2010 once saddened the vast number of “goodies”: the pigs that are most suitable for making twice-cooked pork are becoming endangered.

For this reason, Chengdu built a special breeding farm for Chenghua pigs, but at that time only 100 pigs were kept in the pigsty.

Chenghua pig is a typical black pig, pork is too fat, in recent years in the end market is far less popular than the lean pork is popular with the people; at the same time, Chenghua pig slaughter takes about 7 months, if you do not feed feed, then it needs to be nearly one Years are more than double the growth cycle of common lean pigs on the market. Due to the low economic benefits, Chenghua pigs were abandoned by the vast number of farmers and pig farms.

Pig country protection

The characteristics of Chenghua pigs are almost the common features of local pig breeds in China.

In recent years, with the advancement of large-scale farming, local pig breeds are not adapted to modern, industrialized production characteristics and the dietary requirements of some ordinary people, and the population has gradually shrunk, even to extinction.

Chen Qingming believes that, like the extinction of all species, this will be an ecological disaster.

China is the world’s largest pig country and the country with the most abundant pig breeds.

During the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the Ministry of Agriculture organized the completion of the second national survey of livestock genetic resources. Professor Wang Chuduan of the College of Animal Science and Technology at China Agricultural University told the Oriental Outlook Weekly that this was the “studied survey” that had the most human resources and the longest duration in China in the past 40 years. During the five-year investigation, the country organized one after another. More than 6,900 people have invested 45 million yuan.

The result of this survey was to find out the latest status of livestock resources including pig breeding resources. In March 2012, Yu Fuqing, deputy director of the Livestock and Poultry Resources Department of the National Animal Husbandry Headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, disclosed in an article in the Chinese Journal of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences that through the investigation, it is found that in China, local breeds of pigs, A total of 125 cultivars and introduced varieties were introduced.

Of these, there are as many as 72 local breeds, and 34 local breeds are included in the “National Animal Genetic Resources List”.

Four foreign pig breeds occupying Chinese dining table

Chen Qingming served as Secretary-General of the Chinese Academy of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Society for Pigs for 10 years and left office in 2011. He had long been concerned about the conservation and utilization of local pig breeds in China. According to him, China's local pig breeds are mainly divided into six categories: North China, South China, Central China, Jianghai, Southwest, and High Prototype.

Of these, Zhejiang Jinhua pigs, Sichuan Rongchang pigs, Jiangsu Taihu pigs, and Hunan Ningxiang pigs are the best-known “four famous pigs in China”. Their common feature is that they have good meat quality and preference for fat types. In particular, the content of intramuscular fat is generally higher than that of foreign varieties.

But the shortcomings are also obvious. Wang Chuduan believes that the long growth cycle, high fat content, and low meat rate of local pig breeds in China are all different from those of lean pigs.

After the reform and opening up, the demand for lean meat in the end market has become higher and higher, and the inefficient production model of local pig breeds has also encountered unprecedented challenges. China has begun to introduce a large number of exotic pig breeds.

“This process continues until now.” Chen Qingming introduced the Yorkshire pigs (Great White Pigs) originating from the United Kingdom, Landrace Pigs originating from Denmark, Duroc pigs originating from the United States, Pietrain pigs originating from Belgium, etc. The world’s predominantly lean pig breeds have also entered China on a large scale. The growth cycle of these pigs has been greatly shortened and the lean meat percentage has been as high as more than 60%. Therefore, these pigs are favored by farmers and gradually squeeze local pig breeds unique to China to the end of extinction.

The second National Survey of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources found that in addition to the newly discovered 4 new pig breeds such as the Gaoligongshan pig, 8 local pig breeds such as Hengyao pig have not been found, and Shenxian pig and Xiangcheng pig etc. 4 The species has been determined to be extinct.

Even the local pig breeds that are not at risk of extinction have greatly reduced their genetic diversity. Chen Qingming introduced that the number of sows in many local breeds has dropped drastically, the number of boars has dropped sharply, and some breeds have even failed to find boars. According to statistics, the number of local pig breeds in China is on the decline by about 85%, and 31 species are endangered and are on the verge of extinction.

Collaborate to protect pigs

From the perspective of maintaining biodiversity, it is undoubtedly necessary to strengthen the protection of local pig breeds.

Driven by interests, farmers are most concerned about their fast growth and high lean meat percentage. According to Wang Chuduan, the extinction of a local pig breed may mean the disappearance of some breed characteristics and genetic genes. This is never renewable. “Perhaps not realizing it now, but some genes in the future may be very useful to all human beings.”

In the meantime, foreign pig breeds gradually occupied the market space of our country. At the same time, how to increase the protection of local pig breeds has also aroused heated discussions and attention from the government to the people.

Since 1995, the Ministry of Agriculture has successively implemented projects to improve livestock and poultry breeding programs and livestock germplasm resources. According to public information, during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, a total of 79 pig conservation farms and three gene banks were constructed throughout the country, and 37 local breeder breeding areas were delineated nationwide. Among them, there are 35 national protected areas including Ningxiang pigs, Rongchang pigs and Tibetan pigs, and pig genetic resource conservation farms of Taihu pigs, folk pigs and Huanghuaihai black pigs.

In May 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture also established the National Committee on Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources, which includes a specialized committee of six livestock species such as pigs. It is responsible for the identification and assessment of livestock genetic resources throughout the country, the approval of new livestock and poultry breeds, and supporting systems. Work related to the conservation and utilization planning of poultry genetic resources.

Academic concerns are equally strong. As early as November 2003, an unofficial organization named "Collaborative Group on Conservation and Utilization of Local Pig Breed Resources" was established in Dongguan, Guangdong. This is an academic organization under the organization of the Pig Breeding Society of the Chinese Academy of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, which is open to all swine science experts and pig farms in the country.

Since the establishment of the collaboration group, an academic annual meeting has been held each year. In September last year, the Ninth Academic Annual Meeting of the Chinese Local Pig Breeding Conservation and Utilization Collaboration Group was held in Harbin. At the meeting, the National Animal Husbandry Station represented the Ministry of Agriculture of the PRC and read out the list of the third batch of state-level swine genetic resource conservation farms. The "China (Lanxi) Folk Pig Culture Festival" was held.

According to Chen Qingming, in the previous years, the National Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station of the Ministry of Agriculture also set up a special resources department to manage the above-mentioned cooperative groups.

Local pig opportunities

Before 2005, the central government spent only a few million yuan each year on the protection of livestock and poultry resources, but the growth rate was obvious in the following years. Last year, the central government's livestock and poultry conservation funds increased to an unprecedented RMB 53.20 million, and the average national conservation fund for local pig protection is about RMB 400,000.

Compared with conservation investment, this is still a drop in the bucket. Chen Qingming estimates that for each farm, at least one-third of the conservation funds need to be raised by the conservation unit. This is obviously not sustainable. "Now it is only to protect the species and preserve the species." Chen Ching-ming believes that how to increase the market development of local pig breeds and give play to the economic benefits of local pig breeds, is the fundamental solution to the problem.

At present, China's local pig breeds are far from forming a large-scale industrial production pattern, coupled with the fact that the direction of breeding cannot adapt to the market's consumer demand, resulting in the inability of local pig breeds to rival the world's exotic pig breeds in the market for commercial pigs. Chen Yaosheng, chief scientist of the national hog industry technical system, once revealed that China's breeding farms have been in a state of poor circulation for a long time, and most of the top core breeder pigs rely on imports.

However, in recent years, there have been successful experiences in the exploration of local pig breeds.

For Beijing, which has long been banned from raising pigs within the Sixth Ring Road, Beijing Black Pigs have once faced the embarrassment of disappearing. According to Chen Qingming’s recollection, after foreign pig breeds swept the country, Beijing had intended to abandon the breeding and conservation of Beijing black pigs. After the news was reported, Chen Qingming and other swine science experts were opposed.

Later, a certain pig farm in Beijing decided to keep 80 heads; afterwards, the reform of the swine farms developed rapidly. Today, there are 1,000 swine sows, which can produce tens of thousands of Beijing black pigs a year, and Beijing has opened more than a dozen of Beijing. Black pork store.

Chen Sheng, who graduated from Peking University's Department of Economics, is also famous for raising pigs. The "Hundred Number of Soil Pigs" he founded has opened hundreds of specialty stores in Guangzhou and Shanghai, with a turnover of over 200 million yuan a year. According to Chen Sheng’s introduction, “Peddock Soil Pig” is a pig breed developed from a binary crossbreeding of Taihu pig, one of China’s “four famous pigs,” based on the Luchuan pig breed in Guangxi. Increased to more than 45%, more prominent is the intramuscular fat content of about 2% to 3%, thus effectively ensuring the meat quality and taste.

The above practice should be a useful exploration of local pig breeds going to the market. One background that cannot be overlooked is that with the improvement of people’s living standards, the era of relying on eating pork to supplement nutrition has passed. Instead, they are wary of greasy, high-fat foods. In Chen Ching-ming's view, the requirement for the local pig breeds is the need to intensify the adjustment of the direction of improvement and breeding. While maintaining the excellent characteristics of the local pork quality, the lean meat ratio will be improved through breeding and other means to meet the needs of people at the moment. Changes in dietary structure.

At the same time, when foreign pig breeds become the target of almost all of pork consumption in China, the increasingly discerning “goodies” have also put forward higher demands on meat quality. In Chen Qingming’s memory, the memory of “a stew full of street fragrant” has long been a thing of the past, and the stew is harder and more unpalatable, which has caused many people to resonate.

The “Dongpo Meat” eaten today is not the “Dongpo Meat” that Su Dongpo had eaten in the past. Not many people can accurately answer it. However, local pig breeds are better than exotic breeds, but it is the consensus of many people. “This is where local pig breeds come from,” said Chen Qingming.