Pig meat and health: is it a possible binomial?

In meat production and processing sector, the quality has assumed an aspect of considerable importance in the recent decades. However, consumers perceive the quality in different ways. For some people the quality coincides exclusively with sensory satisfaction, which is often in contrast with the healthful properties; for others, on the other hand, the quality includes numerous features, especially the effect on health status. Meat and meat products are important sources of essential nutrients for the human body, but recent epidemiological studies have associated red meat and processed meat consumption with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and colorectal cancer due to saturated fatty acids, added salt, oxidative products, N-Nitroso compounds that develop during processing steps, and oxidative capacity of HEME-Iron. Moreover, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recently defined red meat as probably carcinogenic and cured meat as carcinogenic. This has created considerable alarm among consumers, a significant reduction in consumption of these products and a remarkable negative impact on the market. Europe, with about 150 million of pigs and a yearly production of about 22 million tons carcass weight, is the second biggest producer of pork in the world, and the Mediterranean area of Europe is known around the world for the high quality of processed pig meat products. Therefore, it seems very important to develop new strategies of production and processing that can improve the healthful features of pork and derived products. The paper focuses on some of these strategies.