ANSWER: One major reason is religious in sense, the Quoran and Bible says pigs should not be eaten by humans. But for me, we have to take into account also the timeframe of the writing of the scriptures.
During those times when they were still writing the scriptures, there is no such thing as toilet bowl and septic tank. People shit directly on the ground like how we now see dogs and chickens do it. In the past, civilizations domesticate pigs primarily for sanitary purpose like janitors -- the pigs will eat around the feces of humans and other animals.
Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek κόπρος copros ("feces") and φαγεῖν phagein ("to eat"). Pigs, like other insects such as flies, will eat the feces of herbivores that leave a significant amount of semi-digested matter. In certain cultures, it was common for poor families to collect horse feces to feed their pigs. Pigs are also known to eat their own feces and even human feces as well. (Wikipedia)
In the present, modern livestock production methods already provide pigs with clean feeds like corn, the pigs take a bath in a regular manner, the pigs shit are cleaned-up and washed with water in a timely manner, and some farm pigs even get vaccination than many humans don't get.
Yup! Many poor people don't get the care that modern pigs get. In the Philippines alone, there are around 5 million people who live lives less-cared compared to pigs while the Philippine Government corruption is getting worse. Most of these poor people lives in Mindanao where I was born.
If the scriptures were written in modend times, I am not sure if it will say "dirty" about the pigs industry that feeds billions of human beings.
I dedicate this blog to my nephews Paolo, Coco, Romrom, and Aaron. These boys gave me this cap below as a 2011 New Year present.
