PORK AND PORK QUALITY
PIH-128
pork industry handbook
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service • West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
Pork By-Products
Authors
John R. Romans, South Dakota State University
William J. Costello, South Dakota State University
James F. Price, Michigan State University
Richard C. Waldman, Austin, Minnesota
Reviewers
Tom R. Carr, University of Illinois
Frank and Barbara Essner, Chaffee, Missouri
Robert Kauffman, University of Wisconsin
Miriam and John Lewis, Walstonburg, North Carolina
Mr. Tony Javurek, who guided two tours daily at John Morrell’s Sioux Falls packing plant for more than 20 years, expressed the meat industry philosophy about by-products during each tour. Tony always said, “We use all parts of the pig except the squeal and the curl in its tail.” This practice took place during prehistoric times when men and women used animal skins for clothing and shelter, bones and horns for tools, tendons and intestines for weapons, tools, and bindings; teeth, claws, feathers, and hair for ornaments; and skins for containers. Modem society learned well from their ancestors, and, as a result, today’s meat industry utilizes many of the nonmuscle portions of livestock.

Meat slaughter by-products (offal) include all parts of the animal that are not a part of the carcass. Cutting and processing of the carcass result in nonmuscle by-products such as fat, bone, and other connective tissues. Processed by-products have been a significant source of income to the meat processing industry. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) (1990) reported the portion of gross farm value of swine attributable to edible and inedible pork byproducts for the years 1985 to 1990 ranged from 5.6% to 6.3% and averaged 6.0%. Thus, if hogs are selling for $50 per hundred weight (cwt), $6.90 of the value of a 230-pound hog represents the worth of the by-products ($50 x 2.3 cwt x 6% = $6.90). Many different products and their predominant use are listed throughout the remaining pages of this fact sheet. However, at times market conditions and alternate product availability preclude the use which is listed in which case the item is used in a lower valued product.

The use of by-products is a controversial subject. One segment of society values the many products made available from
by-products. There is, however, another point of view. There are concerns about the environment and the related energy costs. These concerns have made the use of by-products a major economic and management problem for the meat industry. Today, economics, modem technology, and the industry’s concern for the environment result in maximum salvage and utilization of all by-product materials. A hog kill operation with a 1,000-head-per hour capacity must be able to process approximately 72,000 pounds of by-product material per hour. In many communities, the air and water effluent (flowing out) from meat operations must be as clean, or cleaner, than the water and air entering the plant.
Edible By-Products
Edible by-products, oftentimes referred to as “variety meats,” are listed alphabetically in Table 1. The yields are based on a 230-pound hog along with a brief description of the use of each by-product. Prices for these edible by-products change, depending on their use and availability. Current prices are available from the following sources:
The Yellow Sheet, Daily Market and News Service, published five days weekly by:
The National Provisioner
15 West Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: (312)944-3380
Cooperative Extension work in Agriculture and Home Economics, state of Indiana, Purdue University, and U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating; H.A. Wadsworth, Director, West Lafayette, IN. Issued in furtherance of the acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914. The Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.