Researchers tout "healthful" pork

If a new kind of pork makes it to the dinner table, diners worried about fat and heart disease might finally be free to, well, pig out.

Scientists using genetic-engineering techniques have produced pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a kind of healthful fat abundant in fish but not naturally found in meat.

The omega-3 fatty acids are believed to offer some protection against heart attacks, and federal nutrition guidelines recommend that adults include them in their daily diets.

But "some people are not going to eat fish no matter what," said Penny Kris-Etherton, a professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University who was not involved in the research. "This is a way people who don't like fish can benefit."

However, because the research is in its early stages, no one has yet sampled the pigs to see if they still taste like pork.

Harvard University's Jing Kang, one of the scientists involved in the experiment, is confident the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the new pigs aren't high enough to ruin the flavor.

"There should be no difference," he said, adding that, as far as he can tell, the pigs "don't smell fishy."

The team of scientists from Harvard, the University of Missouri and the University of Pittsburgh used a gene from a microscopic roundworm, C. elegans, which naturally produces omega-3 fatty acids, to genetically modify their pigs.

The researchers began by harvesting more than 1,600 eggs from female pigs. They removed the genetic material from the eggs and replaced it with new DNA that had the worm gene inserted.

The manipulated embryos then were implanted into 14 surrogate mothers. A total of 10 male piglets were born.

DNA analysis showed that six piglets had the worm gene, according to the study published online Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology. he National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society paid for the work.

Getting the pigs to market could be a challenge. People already eat genetically engineered soy beans in all manner of processed food, but biotech companies run into what bioethicists call the "yuck factor" when they begin tinkering with animals.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not allowed any genetically altered animals to enter the food chain, despite scientific studies showing the animals are safe.

Before clearing the meat for consumption, the FDA requires detailed biological information.

"They treat them like they are a new drug," said University of Illinois professor Matthew Wheeler, who has been working on genetically engineered animals for 13 years.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.