Pork producer makes move to market pig-human transplants

By Newsdesk with agency report

The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, has established a separate bioscience unit to expand its role in supplying pig parts for medical uses, with ultimate goal of selling pig organs for transplantation into humans.

Routine pig-human organ transplants are years away, but recent scientific advances are breaking down barriers that frustrated prior attempts to use pigs as a ready supply of replacement parts for sick or injured people, making it an attractive new market.

“Our bread and butter has always been the bacon, sausage, fresh pork – very much a food-focused operation, We want to signal to the medical device and science communities that this is an area we’re focused on – that we’re not strictly packers,” Vice president of Smithfield’s new bioscience unit, Courtney Stanton, told a news agency.

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