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BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Some people who develop a weird and terrifying allergy to red meat after a bite from a lone star tick can still eat pork from a surprising source: Genetically modified pigs created for organ transplant research.

The allergy is called alpha-gal syndrome, named for a sugar that’s present in the tissues of nearly all mammals - except for people and some of our primate cousins.

So the first gene that Revivicor inactivated as it began genetically modifying pigs for animal-to-human transplants was the one that produces alpha-gal.

Revivicor’s GalSafe herd is housed in Iowa and to keep its numbers in check, some meat is periodically processed in a slaughterhouse certified by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Thank-you letters relating the joy of eating bacon again line a bulletin board near the freezer in Revivicor’s corporate office.

The strong anesthesia used so the animals feel no pain during organ removal means they don’t meet USDA rules for drug-free food, said United Therapeutics spokesman Dewey Steadman.

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