Pork in Ireland facts for kids

Pork in Ireland has been an important food for people in Ireland for thousands of years. Long ago, animals and plants came to Ireland from Great Britain over a land bridge that disappeared about 12,000 years ago. When the first hunter-gatherers arrived, Ireland's nature was much like it is today.

Scientists have found many pig bones near where people lived during the Stone Age. This shows that pigs were a big part of their diet. There's even proof that people ate wild pigs as early as 9,000 years ago, before farming even started in Ireland.

Evidence of farming from the Stone Age can be seen at the Céide Fields in County Mayo. These are the oldest known farm fields in the world. At another ancient site called Newgrange in County Meath, bones found from about 4,000 years ago show that pigs and cattle were the main food animals. Pig bones were found more often than cattle bones.

Pigs in Medieval Ireland

The pigs common in ancient Ireland were called "greyhound pigs." They were pink and black, with long snouts, and were very active. These pigs lived in forests and ate things like acorns, hazelnuts, and chestnuts that fell from trees. This type of pig was used for farming in Ireland for a very long time, until new breeds came along in the 1900s.

The Irish word for pig, muc, is similar to the Welsh word mochyn. It's also linked to an ancient god of pigs called Moccus that people in Europe worshipped. Wild pigs were important in old Irish stories and myths. For example, there's a famous story about Diarmait and the Boar of Benn Gulbain. Stories also show that pig-keepers (called muccaid) were important people.

Pork was a very common food in ancient Ireland because it was easy to get. Kings and nobles kept large herds of pigs because they didn't cost much to feed, only needing a pig-keeper. When Christianity came to Ireland around the 4th century, people started writing things down. These writings tell us about farming and society. For example, Saint Patrick, who was captured as a slave, herded pigs and sheep.

The Brehon laws, which were Ireland's old laws, talked a lot about pigs and pork. These laws were first written down in the 7th century. They even had rules about how much damage pigs could cause. For example, if a large pig damaged a field of growing corn, the fine was a sack of wheat.

In the 12th century, a historian named Giraldus Cambrensis visited Ireland. He wrote about how many pigs there were. He said, "In no part of the world are such vast herds of boars and wild pigs to be found." However, he didn't think much of the Irish greyhound pig, calling it "small, ill-shaped and cowardly." Even hundreds of years later, in 1780, people were still surprised by the large number of pigs in Irish towns and villages.

Pork in Early Modern Ireland

For many centuries, pork was always mentioned when people described Irish life and food, especially for ordinary people. Town rules often controlled where pigs could be kept. In 1382, the people of Waterford agreed that any pig found wandering the streets could be killed by special pig wardens. In the 1600s, an English visitor noted that the Irish often ate pork.

Between 1500 and 1800, many forests in Ireland were cut down. This meant that wild pigs lost their natural homes.

Even though pork was still important, from the 1700s onwards, Ireland started exporting a lot of its food. Much of the pork and bacon made in Ireland was sent to other countries, especially after 1760. This probably meant less pork was eaten by people in Ireland. Records from the late 1700s show that pork became more expensive than other meats in Ireland. Meat in general was also more costly in Ireland than in Britain.

In 1841, just before the Great Famine, there were about 1.4 million pigs in Ireland. The number of pigs dropped to just over half a million by 1848. This showed how important pigs were to small farmers and poor families.

Pork Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Throughout the 1700s, Ireland was a major exporter of pork, along with beef, butter, and cheese. The main ports for sending these goods out were Limerick, Waterford, and Cork. These cities were also important for producing pork. The main places Ireland sent pork to were Britain and the Royal Navy.

The market for Irish pork in the Atlantic (like for ships and colonies) became smaller in the late 1700s as other countries, such as the USA, started selling pork. However, in the 1800s, Ireland became an important supplier to the British market again. By 1860, it was noted that "live animals and bacon now provide the staple of the Irish provision trade." Waterford was especially known for sending bacon to London.

The growing export trade was helped by the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions. These changes led to more scientific ways of breeding animals, which made farming much more productive. Also, more people living in cities in the UK encouraged producers to use new technologies to make more food faster.

In the mid-1800s, people worked to make the greyhound pig better. They improved how pigs were fed and housed, and they bred them with English pigs like the Large Yorkshire. The Large White Ulster pig was a very successful result of this mixing of breeds. It became the main pig breed in Ulster in the early 1900s. The Tamworth pig, another breed, also came from mixing the traditional Irish pig with other herds. However, it never became very popular in Ireland. Today, the Tamworth is considered one of the closest breeds to the original wild pigs that lived in European forests.

New Ideas in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Munster, a region known for its dairy farms, was also important for pork production. This is because buttermilk, a leftover from making butter, was excellent and cheap food for pigs. Irish pork producers quickly adopted new ideas in the late 1800s. For example, when a new way to cure bacon was developed in 1862, Irish processors started using it right away.

In 1820, Henry Denny started a business in Waterford. Over the years, he created new ways to produce bacon and made the Denny 'star' brand famous in Britain. In the 1880s, his son Edward opened pork processing plants in Germany, Denmark, and America. Denny's technology even helped the Danish bacon industry grow. Another large Irish pork company, O'Mara's, set up bacon curing factories in Russia in 1891.

The famous Limerick cured ham was also developed around this time. A document from 1902 said it happened almost by accident. In 1880, Limerick producers needed money, so they sold meat that was only half-cured. People loved this "unintentional cure," and others started doing it too. New technology and better transport meant that pork didn't need as much salt to be preserved for a long time. People's tastes changed, and they preferred milder bacon.

A good thing about having a big pork export industry was that cheaper cuts of meat became widely available to local people. In major Irish cities like Limerick, Waterford, and especially Cork, foods like crubeens (pigs' trotters), drisheen (blood pudding), and tripe were common meals throughout the 1800s and much of the 1900s because they were cheap and easy to get.

Today, famous brands like Denny, Galtee, Roscrea, and Shaw's, which started in the 1800s and early 1900s, are still top brands for pork, bacon, and sausages in Ireland. All of them are owned by an Irish food company called Kerry Group. Denny's sausages are even mentioned in James Joyce's famous book Ulysses. The company also says it invented the skinless sausage in 1941.

Pork as Part of Rural Life

In 2008, a project called "Lost and forgotten skills in rural Ireland" talked to people about old food skills that have mostly disappeared. People remembered that pigs were commonly kept on even the smallest farms. A few pigs would be kept for the family to eat, and others would be raised and sold. Usually, pigs were killed on the farm twice a year, in April and October.

When a pig was killed at home, the blood was collected to make blood pudding. The intestines were cleaned to hold the pudding. The liver and kidneys were saved, and the head was boiled for many hours to get all the meat off it.

Salt was very important for curing pork. It not only kept the meat fresh but also killed harmful germs. The pig was cut in half, and large amounts of salt were rubbed into the meat and skin. This often took hours and two people. The salted meat was then laid on the floor, often on straw, and covered. After a few days, men would even walk on the meat (covered with sacking) to make sure the salt got in deeply. The pork was then hung on hooks and covered with cloth to keep flies away. Sometimes, pork was also smoked in the chimney.

People who still make traditional blood pudding say it tastes much better than store-bought versions. There is a lot of demand for it among their friends and neighbors.

Pork in the 20th Century

Modern farming in Ireland in the 1900s was greatly influenced by Horace Plunkett. He started the co-operative movement and the Department of Agriculture in 1899.

The co-operative movement helped dairy farming and butter production grow. It was natural for pig farming to grow alongside it because dairy by-products, like whey from cheese and skim milk, were cheap and excellent food for pigs. Large pork production facilities were built, for example, in Mitchelstown, County Cork, which was also a big center for dairy and cheese.

The modern pig industry really started to develop from the 1960s. This is when the first large pig farms were built. Around the same time, the Landrace breed, which came from Denmark, was introduced. Today, the Landrace and the Large White are the main pig breeds used in commercial farming in Ireland. From the 1960s to the 1990s, a government program helped make pigs leaner (less fat). This was also helped by bringing in high-quality breeding pigs from other countries.

Since the 1990s, pig breeding has changed again. Small, traditional breeders have mostly disappeared. Instead, large farms now use artificial insemination (AI) almost 100 percent of the time.

Most pig farms in Ireland are owned and run by families. They are usually specialized, meaning pig farming is the main or only business on the farm. As of 2006, there were about 440 commercial pig farms in Ireland. Areas with a lot of pig production include Cavan, Cork, and South Tipperary.

• Source: Bord Bia Irish Food Board

Irish Pork Industry Today

The Irish pork industry is the third most important farming sector in Ireland. It comes after beef and dairy. It provides jobs for about 7,500 people. In 2006, pigmeat made up about 6% of all agricultural products, while dairy was 30% and beef was 25%. About half of the pork produced in Ireland is exported. The UK is the most important market, but Ireland sells pork to almost 50 countries worldwide.

In 1989, the Pigmeat Quality Assurance Scheme (PQAS) was started in Ireland. This program sets out rules and controls that all participating pig farmers must follow to ensure high-quality pigmeat.

Some of the things covered by the scheme include:

• How farmers care for their pigs and their training.
• Pig welfare: housing, temperature, ventilation, food, and water.
• Herd health: keeping the pigs healthy and controlling diseases.
• Transport: rules for how pigs are moved.
• Health and safety on the farm.
• Protecting the environment.

The scheme is regularly reviewed and updated. In 1997, it was changed to include new international quality standards. In 2007, it was updated again, and now independent auditors inspect farms. Most Irish pork processing plants and all exporters are part of this scheme. It sets standards that go beyond just what the law requires.

Ireland has fewer pig farms compared to other large pig-producing areas in Europe.

2008 Pork Recall

On December 6, 2008, as a safety measure, the Food Safety Authority asked for all Irish pork and bacon products made since September 1, 2008, to be taken off shelves. This happened because a small amount of a harmful chemical called dioxin was found in some Irish pork and bacon products.

The Department of Agriculture found that the chemical came from one animal feed plant. This plant had supplied feed to 10 Irish pig farms, which made up about 8% of all pigs in Ireland. These farms were immediately stopped from sending their animals to be used for food. Health officials said that any risk to people's health from eating Irish pork before the recall was "extremely low." Other food safety groups agreed with this.

Irish pork and bacon products were back on shelves just four days after the recall. They had a new label saying they were safe. The recall got a lot of attention worldwide. The actions of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) were praised for putting food safety first, even though it cost the industry a lot of money.

The effect on sales of Irish pork and bacon in the UK in 2009 was "slight and temporary." Sales actually went up by 9% by August 2009. Most countries quickly started buying Irish pork again, with only China still having a ban, which was expected to be lifted by mid-2010.

Irish Pork Consumption

Today, potatoes, bacon, and cabbage are often called the 'national dish of Ireland'. While not eaten every day, it's still a common meal in many Irish homes and restaurants.

A traditional Irish breakfast usually includes sausages, black and white pudding, bacon, and fried eggs. Other things like toast, fried potato bread, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, or even liver might be added.

A modern version of this, popular in Irish convenience stores, is the breakfast roll. This shows how popular pork still is in Ireland. An economic writer even called a group of Irish workers "breakfast roll man" because they enjoyed eating these rolls during a time when Ireland was doing very well economically.

People in Ireland eat about 38.4 kilograms of pig meat per person each year. This is much more than any other type of meat.

Images for kids

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  Newgrange, where ancient pig bones were found.

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  A traditional Irish breakfast.