Jiading Meishan Pig

Jiading Meishan Pig

The Jiading Meishan Pig is a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　The Jiading Meishan Pig is a specialty of Jiading District in Shanghai.

　　The Meishan Pig is the pig breed with the highest litter size in the world, renowned globally for its exceptional prolificacy, with a record of 33 piglets born in a single litter, earning it the title of “national treasure.” Jiading is located in the Taihu Lake Basin on the eastern part of the Yangtze River Delta Plain, featuring flat terrain, crisscrossing rivers, fertile land, and abundant water resources—an exceptionally favorable geographical environment that provides ideal conditions for raising Meishan Pigs. According to the Jiading County Annals from the 36th year of the Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty (1557 AD), it is recorded that: “Among the annual local tributes, there were fat pigs,” indicating that Jiading had been raising Meishan Pigs more than 400 years ago. Through centuries of selective breeding, the breed gradually evolved into the high-quality local variety it is today. The Jiading Meishan Pig belongs to the superior breeds of Taihu Pigs. It has sparse light black hair, deep wrinkles on the face, large drooping ears, a sagging belly, and white hair on its four legs (commonly known as “four white feet”). It features strong adaptability to coarse feed, high resistance, high litter rates, and delicious meat quality. It also shows strong hybrid vigor—F1 hybrid sows maintain traits such as high litter numbers, high lean meat ratio, and fast growth rate. The meat is uniquely delicious. The Meishan Pig matures early and easily gains fat, with moderate quantity and distribution of intramuscular fat.

　　Region: Shanghai

　　Applicant: Meishan Pig Breeding Center of Jiading District, Shanghai

　　Region: 2013

　　Geographic Scope

　　The Jiading Meishan Pig is mainly distributed across 65 administrative villages in 4 towns (areas) of Jiading District, Shanghai, including: the Industrial Zone, Xuhang Town, Huating Town, and Waigang Town. The Taihu Lake Basin is located on the eastern part of the Yangtze River Delta Plain and is an alluvial plain with flat terrain and crisscrossing rivers. The Liu River area, where Jiading Meishan Pigs are raised, mainly consists of yellow tidal clay and tidal silty clay. The protected geographic area of the Jiading Meishan Pig is situated within Jiading District, Shanghai, between latitude 31°31′36″–31°45′61″ and longitude 121°14′33″–121°33′18″, at an elevation of 3.4–4.2 meters. The protected area spans 208.52 square kilometers, with a total production scale of 20,000 pigs and an annual output of 2,000 tons. It borders Baoshan and Putuo districts to the east; neighbors Kunshan City of Jiangsu Province to the west; faces the Wusong River (Suzhou River) to the south, overlooking Minhang, Changning, and Qingpu districts; and lies adjacent to Taicang City of Jiangsu Province across the Liu River to the north.