Farmscape for November 20, 2017

Customer feedback is showing "Verified Canadian Pork" is being embraced by consumers both domestically and internationally.
"Verified Canadian Pork: The Farm to Table Quality Assurance Advantage for the Global Marketplace" was among the topics discussed last week as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2017.
Michael Young, the Vice President Technical Programs and Marketing Services, with Canada Pork International, explains the "Verified Canadian Pork" branding program, which was developed first of all for the domestic market, has also moved into the export market.

Clip-Michael Young-Canada Pork International:
It's based on the on-farm food safety and quality assurance systems that our farmers have been doing for years really but we've just not ever been talking about them.
We've combined that with the world renowned food inspection system that CFIA brings to the table and a few other attributes like mandatory traceability for pigs and no growth hormones used in hog production.
Combined that is a good value proposition for the Verified Canadian Pork brand and it resonates well with our domestic and export customers.
Inevitably the messaging is for the consumer but also the end user customer who buys the pork and then either sells it directly to the consumer or then remanufactures it into products.
What we would like to do is add that bit of assurance, that farm to table quality assurance strategy to all the raw materials, whether it's sold as a pork product or whether it's sold as a further processed  pork product just to ensure customers that Canadian producers are doing the right things on farm, that there are programs and systems that are in place that are ensuring that.
So it speaks to trust, it speaks to confidence and it speaks to quality.

Young says 19 end users, including a combination of retail and food service operators, are licensed under the program, 12 primary producers are supplying the product and checks are made to ensure the program's claims are followed through the delivery system.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork