The world's largest pork producer is exploring ways to grow human organs from pig parts (SFD)

pulse

April 14, 2017 6:22 PM

Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, will start selling pig parts to healthcare companies that research pig-human transplants.

Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods, the worlds largest pork producer, doesnt just raise pigs to be eaten.

Smithfield, a $14 billion subsidiary of the Chinese meat processing giant WH Group, already gathers and sells pig parts, like for a variety of medical purposes. The US market for pork materials — for medical, pet food, and non-food purposes — totals over $100 billion.

Most of the pork materials Smithfield sells are used to make ingredients in drugs that treat conditions like indigestion and hypothyroidism. For example, the company supplies mucosa (a hog's intestinal membrane) to healthcare companies to create Heparin, a blood thinner that prevents clotting in surgeries. The parts have not yet been used to develop human cells, however.

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