Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

‘Big Pork’ Is Getting Into The Transplant Business — Is That Kosher?

Smithfield Foods, one of the nation’s largest pork suppliers, has announced that it’s forming a biosciences division that in the future might pioneer the transplantation of organs from pigs to humans.

“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,” Courtney Stanton, the head of the new division, told Reuters.

So observant Jews will not be purchasing Smithfield’s ham, but they could one day receive Smithfield transplants? Sure. One of Judaism’s highest commandments is to save lives, which could offer a rationale to allow them.

And pork suppliers already have a foothold in the medical industry. Smithfield already works with pharmaceutical companies to extract heparin, the key ingredient in many blood-thinners, from the digestive tract of pigs.

Heart valves, in addition to initial doses of insulin, have been taken from pigs to address cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.