The corn effect. How corn affects pork.
Homegrown Painted Mountain Corn
You are what your food ate. In the case of much of the meat produced in the United States, corn represents a significant portion of the diet what that animal consumes. In 2023, 91.5 million acres were planted into corn producing a staggering 15.3 billion bushels of corn. Breaking this number down, about ten percent goes into direct human consumption in the form of sweet corn (about one percent) and processed corn products (corn meal, corn starch, high fruticose corn syrup, etc.), forty percent of corn for fuel, and another forty percent of the corn is going into livestock feed. For pork production, it is one of the most used feed components. This matters because feeding corn affects the omega (ω) 6:3 fatty acid profile.
Corn as a seed has a high ω 6:3 fatty acid ratio, and depending what chart you look at it can be as high as 50:1. The implication being that a higher ω 6:3 ratio, the more proinflammatory the food source is leading to increase incidents of many health issues. In one research study, store bought grain fed pork had an ω 6:3 ration of 29.4:1. For the health-conscious consumer, this is knowledge that should not be ignored.
As a pasture-based pork producer concerned about producing healthy food, ignoring this issue is not an option. And thankfully there have been some answers in addressing this along with other concerns about consuming pork. After all, could you imagine breakfast in America without bacon? In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), corn as a seed crop is not commonly grown but many cool season cereal grains have adapted well to the regional environment. Amongst them is barley, which makes for a great alternative to replace corn in livestock feed. Barley, which is well adapted to the environmental conditions of the PNW, has an ω 6:3 of about 12.5:1. Still not ideal but definitely a step in the right direction. Using other feed components like flax further lowers the ratio and the utilization of pasture like wise can contribute to a favorable outcome as well. While I haven’t been able to locate data on ω 6:3 fatty acid profiles comparing pork fed corn vs. barley, there is one significant difference to be aware of. Previously I mentioned a study indicating that store-bought pork had a ω 6:3 of 29.4 to 1. Putting pigs on pasture reduced it by over fifty percent to a ω 6:3 ratio of 13.84 to 1. A significant difference, but it should be the goal of the farmer who is producing food to always be striving to do better.