Farmscape for November 24, 2017

Canada Pork International suggests a quality based grading system for pork will allow processors to place the right product into the right market.
Canada Pork International, in partnership with Swine Innovation Porc, has been working on new tools to help improve the competitiveness of Canadian pork in the global market place, including the development of a quality based grading system for pork.
Michael Young, the Vice President Technical Programs and Marketing Services, with Canada Pork International, says quality based grading offers several advantages.

Clip-Michael Young-Canada Pork International:
The attributes that we would be looking at would be the color of the meat, which is an indicator of the pH factor or water holding, the marbling in the meat which similar to beef determines the flavor and the juiciness of the product and the firmness of the meat which is also an indicator of pH.
Those three factors combined measured properly can give a more consistent eating experience for the end user.
It also allows you to select different marbling scores for different applications.
A good example is that a ham and sausage producer would like leaner leg where as a consumer would want a little more marbling in their leg roast because there's more flavor.
A grading system would allow the meat processors to identify the right cuts for the right market.
As you may know, the Americans have announced that there will be a U.S. pork grading system that is based on pork quality and we think this is a great idea.
It fits well with the direction we think Canada should go in and I think them moving forward and taking a leadership role will certainly help us to move Canada along a little quicker which is what we all hope.

Young notes the U.S. grading system for pork will mirror the system used in the U.S. for grading beef and will include prime, choice and select and will be based on a marbling score, color and a firmness measurement.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

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