A new U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis finds that pork tenderloin is actually a tiny bit leaner than a skinless chicken breast. A typical pork tenderloin today contains only 2.98 grams of fat per 3-ounce serving, compared with 3.03 grams of fat in a 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken breast.

Pork’s trot from fat to skinny started after World War II, when lard sales began to slump. With no market for the fat, farmers bred leaner hogs, says Danita Rodibaugh, president of the National Pork Board in Des Moines.

In the 1980s, producers accelerated that process by breeding ever-leaner pigs because of Americans’ growing love affair with high-protein, low-fat foods. In 1991, the USDA found that pork was a whopping 31% leaner than it had been 10 years before.

In the past decade, farmers have shaved 16% in fat off their hogs, which makes today’s pork a full 47% leaner than it was 25 years ago, Rodibaugh says.

[Read](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-07-05-pork_x.htm) (USA Today)

As the article stated, most of the pork recipes were written when pork contained more fat, and if you follow the recipes now, the meat will taste like shoe leather. It sounds like it’s time for some new cookbooks.