A lot of hog farmers think their big, old sows are the source of the mystery meat that forms hot dogs and other low-grade meat products.
But that’s a terrible misperception, says Steve Meyer, a leading meat industry economist.
According to Meyer, sow meat is a premium meat.
“You would never use good big sow meat for hot dogs,” an author of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Daily Livestock Report told the Manitoba Pork Council annual meeting in Winnipeg April 7.
“Those big fancy ones, they want those for the premium sausages.”
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Sows get a bad reputation for their meat quality because their live price is lower than that of market hogs.
Sow meat is still a high-value product compared to some types of pig meat.
Sausage makers prize the meat from big sows because it has a different texture and colour than other pork. Other types of pork, such as trim from market hogs, do not produce good sausage meat.
Meyer said the difference is clear when comparing the breakfast sausages sold by the Hardee’s and McDonald’s chains in the United States. The Hardee’s sausages, served as part of a sausage and biscuit breakfast, are nice and crumbly, while McDonald’s sausage tends to be chewy.
That crumbly texture in the Hardee’s sausage comes from the meat of big sows. The chewiness of McDonald’s sausage comes from the nature of the market hog trim.
Hot dog meat comes from small sows, Meyer said, as well as market hog trimmings that produce a lower quality product than good sausages.
North American sow prices have been strong recently when compared to market hog prices. Meyer said that is a result of sausage makers scrambling to buy big sows and finding that herd liquidation across North America last year has made them more rare.
“I work with some sow slaughterers and they really want the big pigs and sows because there aren’t very many out there, and they’re the only thing that will provide that kind of pork. It’s almost a separate product.”
