Elizabeth Miller wrote:
> Can someone explain why being a scavenger with only one stomach is
> supposed to make an animal unfit to eat -- I mean by the time the pig
> processes whatever food through it's stomach and the nutrients are
> absorbed into his body to make his structure, why should it be unclean.
> Does the pig somehow absorb and incorporate 'contaminants' into his body
> more than other animals?

    It's ironic that I first posed the question concerning eating raw pork -
what raw food eaters did concerning this meat, or was it eschewed à la
Biblical mandates. I had in mind largely the trichinosis issue, but a lot of
interesting issues have come up as a result.
    One thing that has not come up yet is that - I believe according to my
late husband who died in 1977 & worked at the Diagnostic Lab behind the Vet
school @ Texas A&M, College Station - pigs don't sweat any more than dogs
do. That is why pigs will take to muddy places to cool them off - not to get
dirty. This means that there could be less chance that bad things ingested
will come out with a water rinse - i.e., sweat - like most humans have
("Sweating like a pig" is about as bad as saying "Eating like a bird"). This
will help explain why feral pig meat can be so strong like the acorns, etc.,
they eat - as their urine & feces are not completely eliminating everything
that might need to be eliminated. In some respects, farm pig meat may be a
better bet, although human ideas of nutrition for a pig might be as screwy
as feeding cows urea by-products, etc.

Mary Anne
Corsicana, TX