color="#FFFFFF" size="2">Back to National News Digest
Sunday, August 9, 1998 Last modified at 1:27 a.m. on Sunday, August 9, 1998
Junk food makes for tastier pork, say Ohio researchers
DENVER (AP) - Feeding junk food to pigs makes for tastier pork, researchers say.
Ohio State University researchers turned potato chips destined for the landfill into pelleted feed for more than 250 pigs.
The result was juicier, more tender chops.
The finding was reported at this week's national meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and American Dairy Science Association at the Colorado Convention Center.
Researchers said they decided to feed the pigs chips - sour-cream-and-onion and barbecue - because of their high fat content. The chips, about 33 percent fat, have the energy the piglets need to pack on pounds.
Corn-based feeds are the traditional means of fattening hogs, but corn can be expensive.
For the experiment, Shearer's Potato Chips of Brewster, Ohio, donated chips deemed too dark, too broken or beyond their expiration date.
The research showed pigs on the 25 percent potato chip diet ate less because of high salt and fat content.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ©2014. All Rights Reserved.