12 Scientific Reasons For Declaring Pigs Haram Debunked!

Verdict : Mostly BULLSHIT.

The Truth : Pigs are opportunistic omnivores. That means they will eat almost everything they’re fed.

In farms, that may range from corn- and soy-based animal feed to processed food waste. That’s no different from what cattle and poultry are fed.

Do pigs eat insects? Yes, in the wild, pigs will feed on insects, as well as small mammals. However, they mostly eat plants.

Do pigs feed on their own faeces, urine, decaying animal flesh or cancer growths on other pigs? No. That’s just made up.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : All mammals are physiologically similar. They absorb nutrients and chemical elements from their food and water, all of which are toxic at a certain level.

That’s why they all have organs (liver and kidneys) that metabolise (detoxify) excessive levels of nutrients and chemicals absorbed from food and water.

Pigs do not have a special physiology that allows their meat to better absorb toxins. If they did, millions of people would have died from being poisoned by toxic pork… Please use some common sense.

The picture of common porcine parasites is not just irrelevant, it is defamatory and hypocritical. All animals are affected by similar parasites, including the cows and sheep that Muslims and Jews are allowed to consume.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : Ironically, he used a picture that points out that pigs have sweat glands, and therefore, do perspire. That makes him wrong on two counts.

Pigs have sweat glands but they are not functional (eccrine) sweat glands. That means they are not used to regulate the pig’s body temperature.

Instead, they are apocrine glands that do not secrete sweat but an oily substance. They therefore function like scent glands.

Sweating in mammals is not the main way of excreting toxins. It is, by large, a way to regulate the body temperature. The same toxins excreted in sweat is disposed in far larger quantities in the urine and faeces.

What little minerals, lactate and urea that isn’t excreted in a pig’s (hypothetical) sweat is not absorbed by its flesh but excreted in its urine / faeces.

That is also why people who live in cold climates do not die from toxins building up in their bodies, just because they don’t sweat.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : This is such a ridiculous lie, it’s amazing that people actually fell for it. Then again, some people still believe that the Earth is flat…

First of all, both pigs and swine refer to the same animal. They are just different names for the same animal.

Secondly, being poisonous does not make an animal immune to poison. In fact, poisonous animals like snakes and scorpions are susceptible to poisons.

Finally, strychnine is highly toxic to pigs. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, the oral LD50 dose is only 0.5-1 mg/kg for a pig. A cat, in comparison, has an oral LD50 dose of 2 mg/kg.

The book, Diseases of Swine, goes on to note that pigs poisoned by strychnine often die in less than 1 hour.

Verdict : Anecdotally true, factually bullshit.

The Truth : Pigs do have a reputation for being immune to snake bites. However, it is not because they are actually immune to snake venom.

A Loma Linda University study actually found that rattlesnake venom necrotised pig skin as quickly as human skin, due to their similarity.

Pigs, however, have the advantage of a thick hide and a larger body mass. Their thick hides reduce the depth of penetration, while their body mass reduce the effect of the venom.

Domestic pigs, incidentally, weigh between 140 and 300 kilograms, but can be as heavy as 600 kg.

So a pig will still be affected by snake bites. They are just tougher and have the ability to survive more snake venom than us puny human beings.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : The decomposition time for any dead animal depends on a multitude of factors – body size, ambient temperature, humidity, exposure to the elements and insects, etc.. That means it can vary greatly even for bodies of the same species.

There is no evidence that insects and bacteria consume dead pigs faster than any other animal of a similar size, all other conditions being similar.

In fact, forensic anthropologists use the carcasses of 40 kg piglets to simulate a decaying human body, because their fat distribution, hair cover and ability to attract insects is very similar.

Anti-swine Muslim apologists also have to make up their minds. Is the meat of the pig toxic or not? If it is toxic, then the insects eating the dead body would die from the toxic meat. But if the “clean-up crew” such small insects do not die but thrive on the flesh, what does that mean for their claim of pork being toxic?

This claim is probably designed to scare people into thinking that pork should not be eaten because it rots so fast. The facts simply do not hold up as butchered pork are no less likely to rot faster than any other kind of meats.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : First of all, all domestic animals bred for consumption have natural parasites, not just pigs. Also, not all animal parasites are harmful to humans who consume them.

So it would be hypocritical to point out that pigs have parasites without admitting that all livestock we consume have parasites.

The parasites that can cause diseases in humans are easily killed by proper food preparation.

In the case of pork, the USDA recommends cooking pork to an internal temperature of 63°C / 145°F and letting the meat rest for at least 3 minutes before consumption.

Alternatively, the CDC recommends cooking pork to a minimum internal temperature of 71°C / 160°F.

Needless to say, thoroughly cooking pork to 100°C / 212°F will kill any parasite, cyst or egg that are in the meat.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : Pigs bred for food have total body fat percentages of 9.3% to 24.3% (as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry).

Cows, on the other hand, have total body fat percentages of 19% (hay-fed) to 27% (grain-fed). So off the bat, the claim is bullshit.

Of course, the fat content varies from cut to cut. But more importantly, while excessive fat is bad for health, we must acknowledge that the choice cuts always have more fat.

USDA prime-grade beef, for example, must have 6-8% marbled fat, while wagyu beef proudly boasts 20-25% marbled fat.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : Cows actually have a single stomach, with four compartments. They require four compartments because the fibrous plants they consume must be fermented in order to extract the nutrients.

That is also the reason why cows regurgitate the fermented plant matter (cud) to be chewed again. Yummy…

Pigs are omnivores so their stomach is similar to that of non-ruminant animals (like humans). They do not need to ferment their food, so there is no need for multiple compartments or the regurgitation of semi-digested food.

In both cases, nutrients are absorbed and used as building blocks for new muscles, fat, connective tissue, etc.

A quicker digestion does not imply that more toxins are absorbed. It merely means that pigs have a faster digestive process than cows.

Incidentally, the picture he included is an irrelevant picture of a wild pig with abdominal fat stained blue by a dye used in Anticoagulant Rodenticide (AR) baits. It was intentionally added so that we do not accidentally consume the meat of animals that have ingested the poisoned bait.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : Animal diseases that can be spread to humans are called zoonotic diseases. Pigs, like other livestock, carry certain zoonotic diseases. However, most of them (salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter jejuni, etc.) are common to other livestock.

There are a few zoonotic diseases that are specifically related to pigs, but they are no different to zoonotic diseases that are specific to other livestock species.

As far as we can tell, the prohibition in the Quran is specifically against the consumption of pork. Specifically, Al Quran verse 5:3 (Surah Al-Ma’idah)

“Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and…“

There is no actual prohibition against touching the meat or carcass of a pig.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : If eating pork causes those diseases, then many Muslims who suffer from the same diseases must be sneaking a little bacon on the side!

We know what causes typhoid, arthritis, rheumatism, gastritis, multiple sclerosis, meningitis and gall bladder issues. Needless to say, none of them are related to the consumption of pork.

But anecdotally, it appears that the non-consumption of pork may lead to a lack of intelligence and honesty in some people.

Verdict : Absolute BULLSHIT.

The Truth : They misappropriated the picture above from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC).

It does not show the presence of a “sewer line outlet” at the bottom of a pig’s feet. Rather, it shows a ruptured vesicle on the foot of a pig afflicted with the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

In case you are wondering, this disease also afflicts other farm animals, like cows, water buffaloes, sheep and goats…