"So, that piece of bread? Do you know what it's made of?"
We step into the shower, allowing the steam to renew our skin. Stumble to the kitchen and eat breakfast, still half asleep. Walk out the door and into the world. The world where things are changing, shifting, moving. Evolving so fast we lose track of the simple improvements we take for granted because they make our lives easier. Do we know how all this happens? Do we know what our everyday tools of life are made out of? Christien Meindertsma follows pig 05049 through the journey of a life time and takes us deeper into the products we frequently use.
When we think of a pig, we automatically think of meat. Bacon, pork, ham, sausage....And yes, it is true. The majority of the pig is used to create the meat that is consumed daily by millions. However, in the past, no part of the animal was wasted. Every last bit of the body was used. So is that still true? Through three years of research Christien found that the pig is used in much more things that we think. First of all, bar soap contains traces of pig that is used as a hardening agent and also creates the glossy soap look. Then we go to breakfast and eat a healthy piece of toast. Some companies actually use the hair from a pig in their bread as an "enhancing protein." Additionally, that "lowfat butter" that you spread over your pig hair bread? It actually contains gelatin. When food is made to be fat-free or low fat, it loses it's texture and they have to add gelatin to the product to make sure that it keeps it's form. Really what Meindertsma was discovering was that the pig that we kill is actually used for a lot more than we might assume. The base of many roads is made from cellular concrete which is a light type of concrete. Often this concrete contains protein from bones in it. Craving something to eat on your way home? A nice desert? When you pick up that cheesecake or tiramisu from the frozen delicacy section you are really grabbing yourself a nice large helping of gelatin. To make sure these foods are firm to hold them in their shapes, gelatin is added. Even simple things such as paint, paintbrushes and sandpaper use parts of the pigs in the final product. In her TED talk, Christien talks about the most interesting thing she discovered pig byproduct was actually used for; bullets. Bullets? Really? Welcome to the world of creative minds! The most disturbing way pig meat is used is through steaks, which are supposed to be cow meat. When they run out of enough cow meat to make a whole steak, they take extra pig and add it to the cow. They roll it into a sausage and slice it into pieces they sell as steak. She mentions how along with that steak, you may want to quench your thirst with a hefty beer. Often beer has cloudy elements so to remove this, they filter it through gelatin. Juices and wines also undergo this "cleaning" process. Interestingly enough, some cigarette companies will use pig hemoglobin in the filter of the cigarette. They claim that it creates an "artificial lung" in the filter making it a "healthier cigarette." Through all of these bizarre uses of pig, she discovered a true miracle; the valve from the pigs heart. There is actually a medical clinic that uses the valve of the pig heart and cases it in high-tech metal. This can be placed into a human heart without using open heart surgery and when they remove the metal shell, the heart starts beating instantly. The heart is a beautiful thing isn't it?
When I was listening to this, so much was going on in my head. Disbelieve, disgust, at points, and sheer awe for the creativity humans have. Later that afternoon, I was processing how innovative and resourceful humans are. Not a part of this pig is wasted. Just like when our lives depended on having every little thing. Why is it so hard for us to be resourceful in the other aspects of our lives. How many plates of perfectly food are thrown away everyday from restaurants? How much paper to we throw away instead of recycling? How many extra gallons of gas are burned each day because people don't know how to carpool? Simple things in our lives can really effect the health of our planet. We can find a hundred different uses for a pigs body, but we cant seem to realize how easy it is to be that resourceful in our own lives. This just really moved me and made me think about how many more ways in my life I can work on being more resourceful.
**Remember this woman is from Europe and these are European companies that she talks about.**
