- Victoria is situated in southern Australia with co-existing old and new buildings, an urban charm and elegant streets
- Melbourne is touted as the Garden City
- the city is covered in greenery and has been ranked as the most liveable place on Earth
- also a city of fashion with European influence
- apart from special tourist attractions, traditional and new cuisines can also be found here
- Victoria is a key economic hub of Australia
- the culture there is a blend of new and old but not many people may know that that place produces plenty of great food
- Australian pork sold in supermarkets in Singapore
- take 2-hr bus ride from Melbourne to a pig farm located in north central Victoria that is rearing pigs specially for Singapore
- pig farms disappeared from Singapore more than 2 decades ago
- the pig farm exports 20,000 pigs a year
- it's been around for 10 yrs and covers 12.5 square metres
- Singapore sets high sanitary requirements for imported pork and the farm also takes stringent sanitary precautions
- one is to produce the H1N1 vaccine pass and put on vaccination gear before entering the pig farm
- the pigs are transported there once they're 6-8 weeks old (weigh ~18kg) till 20 weeks old (~90kg - 95kg) and ready for export
- there're about 400 pigs in a pen (on average gain 1kg a day)
- the piglets' parents live in another farm which is about 200 square metres away
- the feed contains about 6 kinds of grains, from soy bean, wheat to barley
- the pigs eat all they want and whenever they feel like it
- when we consume the pork we stand to gain from the nutrients digested by the pigs
- they include carbohydrates, protein, minerals and so forth
- as Australia has strict customs inspection and quarantine regulations, vets must examine the piglets very carefully
- this will make sure they are strong and healthy
- to make sure the meat is tender, the piglets must receive an adequate supply of feed and water
- the water is extremely clean and the air here is really fresh
- they are also given a clean and spacious pen to run about
- most importantly they must mingle and run around and have fun
- can tell if piglets are happy by looking at their ears
- cocked ears mean they're in a fabulous mood
- piglets form cliques and have own leaders and friends
- when it comes to sleeping, they sleep at fixed spots
- every piglet grows at a different pace
- a trap will sort the pigs according to their weight
- the pigs are shooed there and there's a narrow gap which only the piglets can pass through it
- the pig pen is designed to be ecologically balanced to give the piglets proper ventilation
- if the temperature rises above 28 deg C outside the vaporizers will be activated automatically
- if it gets too hot inside, the piglets won't eat
- pork processing plant exports approximately S$9m in a year to Singapore
- everyone including the pig farmers and pig processors who enters the plant have to abide by the stringent sanitary guidelines
- this is the last line of defence before the pork is exported
- after the pigs are shaved, they're inspected and sorted
- 3 key criteria have to be met: must be female as male ones smell, must weigh around 70kg and they mustn't contain too much fat (what happens to the male ones?)
- a pork inspection machine cum fat sensor is used and the data is transmitted to the computer
- every 100g of pork contains only 3.6g of fat (3.6% fat)
- 11 different parts of the pork will undero special assessment before export
- they have to be sufficiently hydrated if not the pork will become dry and hard
- the pork has to be wrapped in plastic bags so they're protected and clean
- the pork is not frozen to keep fresh
- another freezing system is used to ensure that from the plant to supermarkets in Singapore, the pork is kept tender and soft under regulated temperature
- the plant export an ave of 1000 pigs to Singapore every week
- the pigs are hung for 24 hrs to ensure a temperature of 0-4 deg C before they can be exported
- the pigs are then air-flown from Australia to Singapore and arrive at the supermarkets in just 48 hours
- pork that is not frozen retains its nutrients and succulence
- hence the fresh pork sold in Singapore was in fact still in Australia 2 days ago
No comments:
Post a Comment