"Why is pork preferred despite being more expensive than beef? The truth has come to light."

The list of counterfeit and adulterated products published for the first time by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on October 2 revealed that many businesses, including the famous restaurant chain Köfteci Yusuf, have been using pork. The fact that the price of pork raised on farms is higher than that of beef raises the question, "Why do restaurants prefer pork?"

ARE THEY USING WILD BOARS?

Halit Özbahçıvan, the import manager of Gourmet Pork, a company established in 1963 in the Alsancak district of İzmir that has been engaged in pig farming and pork sales since the early 1990s, stated in an interview with Mustafa Ali Akyol from Patronlar Dünyası that the pork used by the companies listed by the ministry is not from domesticated pigs raised on farms, but from wild boars. Özbahçıvan emphasized that the price of carcass (bone-in) beef is sold for 300-350 lira, while the current selling price of carcass pork is in the range of 350-400 lira, stating, "It would be meaningless for them to use the meat of farm-raised pigs to keep costs low. No company would take such a risk with this price scale. The healthy pigs they use are not farm pigs, but wild boars that are illegally hunted and traded."

"THEY ARE TRYING TO SELL TO US TOO"

Halit Özbahçıvan noted that there is an unofficial market for wild boars that is driven by boars hunted by hunters, stating, "Sometimes hunters even come to us trying to sell the wild boars they have shot."

THERE IS A PARASITE RISK

Özbahçıvan pointed out that the meat of pigs in farms is specially raised and goes through necessary health checks, while the wild boar meat sold cheaply and used by companies carries the risk of containing a parasite called 'Trichinella'. The parasite, which is most commonly transmitted through pork, does not cause any disease in pigs but can lead to fatal diseases in humans.