Pigs supply far more than pork chops and bacon. Roughly 72 to 88 percent of a pig’s live weight becomes food for humans, and much of the remainder is converted into pharmaceuticals, medical devices, industrial materials, and everyday consumer goods. The old saying that producers use “everything but the squeal” is surprisingly close to the truth.
Meat and Food Products
The most obvious products from pigs are the cuts of pork found in any grocery store. These include bacon, ham, pork chops, pork tenderloin, pork loin roast, pork shoulder, pork belly, ribs, pork steak, ground pork, and sausage. Each comes from a different section of the carcass, ranging from lean cuts like the tenderloin to fattier options like belly and ribs.
Beyond whole cuts, pork is processed into a huge range of prepared foods: hot dogs, pepperoni, salami, prosciutto, pancetta, chorizo, liverwurst, and pâté, among others. Lard, the rendered fat from pigs, was once the primary cooking fat in many cultures and is still used in baking, frying, and traditional recipes like tamales and pie crusts.
Gelatin and the Products It Ends Up In
Pig skin is the single largest source of gelatin in the world, accounting for about 50 percent of global production. The collagen in pig skin is extracted through acid baths and heat treatments, then dried into the powder or sheets used across the food and pharmaceutical industries.
That gelatin shows up in a surprisingly long list of products. Marshmallows, gummy bears, Jell-O, fruit snacks, and many yogurts rely on it for their texture. It’s also the material used to make hard and soft capsules for vitamins, supplements, and medications. Outside the kitchen and medicine cabinet, gelatin appears in photographic film, cosmetics, and even some types of paper and printing processes.
Blood Thinners From Pig Intestines
One of the most critical medical products derived from pigs is heparin, a blood-thinning drug extracted from the mucous lining of pig small intestines. Heparin is used in hospitals worldwide to prevent blood clots during surgery, organ transplants, and treatment of deep vein thrombosis. It also plays a role in managing clots caused by poor circulation and heart conditions.
Beyond its well-known anticoagulant function, heparin has anti-inflammatory properties and can help reduce fat levels in the blood. The drug goes through enzymatic and chemical processing to produce the final sodium or calcium salt form used in clinics. No widely available synthetic alternative has fully replaced animal-derived heparin, making pig intestines an essential raw material for modern medicine.
Heart Valves and Surgical Grafts
Pig heart valves have been used as replacements in human patients since 1970. These bioprosthetic valves are treated to reduce immune rejection and then surgically implanted in patients whose own valves have failed. In patients over 35, about 80 percent of pig valve replacements last at least 10 years without tissue failure, and they carry a low risk of blood clots compared to mechanical alternatives.
Pig skin also serves as a temporary wound covering for severe burns. Processed porcine skin grafts, called xenografts, are applied to partial-thickness and full-thickness burns to protect the wound, reduce pain, and prevent fluid loss while the patient’s own skin heals or until a permanent graft is ready. These temporary dressings are typically effective for about seven days before they need replacement. The pig skin is treated chemically to reduce immune reactions, though it is never permanently incorporated into the body.
Thyroid Medication
Pig thyroid glands are the source of natural desiccated thyroid, a medication used to treat an underactive thyroid. Until the 1970s, this was the standard treatment for hypothyroidism worldwide. Synthetic versions have since become the default, but pig-derived preparations like Armour Thyroid and NP Thyroid are still prescribed, particularly for patients who continue to experience fatigue, brain fog, and other symptoms on synthetic medication alone. These natural formulations contain a mix of two thyroid hormones rather than just one, which some patients and clinicians find more effective.
Insulin’s Porcine Origins
For decades starting in the 1920s, insulin for diabetic patients was purified from pig pancreases. Porcine insulin is nearly identical to human insulin, differing by just one amino acid, which made it effective for blood sugar control long before genetic engineering existed. Today, recombinant human insulin produced by engineered bacteria and yeast has largely replaced animal-derived versions. However, porcine insulin marked one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the 20th century and kept millions of people with diabetes alive before synthetic production became possible.
Industrial and Household Products
Pig byproducts extend into corners of daily life most people never think about. Pig fat and its chemical derivatives are used in the production of soaps, candles, and biodiesel. Fatty acids from pork processing appear in shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, and other cosmetics, where they function as emollients and emulsifiers. Pig bones are processed into bone char, which has historically been used in sugar refining and water filtration.
Pig hair, typically from the coarser bristles, is used to make paintbrushes and upholstery brushes. The amino acid L-cysteine, sometimes sourced from pig hair, is used as a dough conditioner in commercial bread production. Pig skin is also tanned into leather for shoes, gloves, footballs, and other goods, though it is less common than cowhide.
Even pig blood finds industrial uses. It can be processed into blood meal, a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, or dried into a protein powder used in animal feed. Components of pig blood are also used in some adhesives and as a binding agent in certain manufacturing processes.
How Much of the Pig Gets Used
Modern processing aims to waste as little as possible. Research on European slaughterhouses found that when utilization is optimized, up to 92 percent of a pig’s live weight can become edible products for human consumption. Pushing that number higher doesn’t just improve profitability. It also reduces the environmental footprint per kilogram of pork sold by anywhere from 4 to 26 percent, depending on how byproducts are handled. The parts that don’t end up as food, including organs, glands, bones, skin, and blood, are funneled into the pharmaceutical, industrial, and agricultural supply chains described above. Very little of a commercially processed pig is truly discarded.