Pork

Studies in people

• No harm found

  Heart and blood fat²

  In people, few studies found eating pork had no bad effects on blood fats or heart health.

• Open question

  Undercooked meat infection risk⁴

  Scientists found that eating undercooked pork from Punjab can sometimes pass a tapeworm parasite to people.

• Open question

  Gut bacteria and digestion⁵

  In men who often ate pork, gut bacteria were less varied than in men who often ate chicken.

• Open question

  Cooking temperature and infection⁶

  Pork is a major source of toxoplasmosis, and cooking temperature strongly affects how many people get infected.

• Benefit

  Muscle soreness after exercise⁷

  In cadets doing Army training, pork-based meals led to less muscle soreness than plant-based meals.

Animal and lab studies only

• Concern

  Gut bacteria and cancer risk¹⁵

  In animal studies, a pork sausage diet changed gut bacteria and metabolism, which may raise colorectal cancer risk.

Study type not stated

• Open question

  Small peptides in cured meat¹⁰

  In dry-cured pork, some small peptides may have health benefits, but little is known about them.

• Open question

  Foodborne illness risk¹¹

  Eating raw or undercooked pork can cause trichinellosis, an illness linked to Trichinella spiralis in pigs.

• Open question

  Foodborne virus risk¹²

  Hepatitis E virus was found in 65% of pork liver pâtés tested from Belgian supermarkets.

• Open question

  Bacteria in raw meat¹³

  Listeria monocytogenes was found in about one in nine chilled pork samples tested in China.

Found in some samples or products

These come from where it was grown, how it was processed or cooked, or what it was made into. They are not about the ingredient itself, so the signal does not count them.

• Kidney health³

  Pork meat and products from pig blood or organs often carry ochratoxin A, which has been linked to kidney disease in people.

• Liver contamination across China¹⁴

  PFAS chemicals were found in nearly all pork liver samples tested across China, including PFOA and PFOS.

• Salmonella infection rates¹⁶

  Salmonella in pork causes about 27 cases per 10,000 men and 24 per 10,000 women each year in China.

How it’s made and used

• Sausage shelf life⁸

  Rosemary and green tea extracts helped fresh pork sausage stay good longer and taste better to shoppers.

• Meat and the environment⁹

  Fresh pork had lower greenhouse gas emissions than beef and lamb, and was closer to eggs, chicken, and beans.

• Meat infection rate¹⁷

  In animal studies, one of 48 pork samples from Mexican butcher shops carried Toxoplasma, the parasite behind toxoplasmosis.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Expert panels that weigh all the research. Shown for context: the signal at the top does not count them. IARC rates whether something can cause cancer at all, not how likely it is at the amounts in food.

• WHO cancer agency (IARC), 2015

  For red meat: probably causes cancer in people (Group 2A).