
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994                   TAG: 9408290049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PORK PRODUCERS HAVE A BEEF WITH POLITICIANS

For the past two weeks, those greasy politicians in Congress having been wailing about ``pork'' in the crime bill - billions of dollars for crime prevention programs.

But the National Pork Producers Council has cried foul over that.

Pork producers have been working hard to sell leaner cuts to a fat-conscious world and don't like all the flabby bad-mouthing in Congress.

``Actually if the government could trim as much fat from its budget as we have been able to from pork, we'd all be all lot better off,'' said Robin Kline, director of the council's Pork Information Bureau in Des Moines, Iowa.

This week, Americans were treated to that old ham, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., singing his own special version of ``Old McDonald Had a Farm.''

Standing in front of a picture of a fat, pink pig, stuffing its snout into a trough of cash, he warbled: "President Clinton had a bill. E-I-E-I-O. And in that bill was lots of pork. E-I-E-I-O. New pork here, old pork there. Here a pork, there a pork. Everywhere pork, pork ... "

He went on: ``The president's bill costs much too much. E-I-E-I-O. And it must be chopped. E-I-E-I-O. With a chop, chop here. And a chop, chop there. Chop that pork off everywhere. Then we'll have a bill that's fair. E-I-E-I-O."

Says Kline: ``That sent us over the edge. I heard a senator say, `I don't want any pork. I don't want any pork chops. I don't want any pork ribs.' That may be going a bit too far.''

In fact, the term ``pork barrel'' dates back to pre-Civil War plantation days when salt pork was distributed to slaves from huge barrels. By the 1870s, the word was rooted in American political lexicon as congressmen regularly were referring to ``pork,'' as in bringing home the bacon for their districts.

But the pork industry thinks it's time for the roasting to end.

``We want to make it clear that `cut the pork' doesn't mean what it used to,'' says Kline. ``We don't appreciate Congress using pork as a pejorative.''

In their eyes, pork is beautiful - and lean. Pork was 31 percent lower in fat in 1990 than it was in 1983, says Mike Jensen of the Kansas Pork Producers Council in Manhattan, Kan., about 60 miles from Topeka. It's also 14 percent lower in calories and 10 percent lower in cholesterol. ``We kick the heck out of beef in that regard,'' Jensen says.

Pork loin and pork tenderloin is on par with boneless, skinless chicken breasts - both contain between 2 and 4 grams of fat per serving, Kline says.

``You've got politicians saying pork is fat,'' Jensen says. ``But Americans know better, and they may be chalking it up to one more thing the politicians don't know about.''

by CNB