New tools being developed to improve and standardize the classification of Canadian pork will improve the ability of processors to meet the quality demands of international customers. Scientists working in partnership with Swine Innovation Porc are creating new tools to assist the Canadian pork sector in developing a standardized pork classification system based on the quality attributes most desired by export customers. Dr. Manuel Juárez, a Livestock Phenomics Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Lacombe Research and Development Centre, says the goal is to expand on existing grading standards.
Clip-Dr. Manuel Juárez-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada:
The original idea was to start with the loin because it is the standard, still today, be able in a first stage to guarantee there wouldn’t be any PSE or Pale Soft Exudative or low quality pork in the shipment to the buyer if he was guaranteed by this grade of quality from Canada. The second stage would go farther and then be able to guarantee a minimum colour and marbling for those primals going to buyers willing to pay a premium. Then the next phase would be to do something similar with all the primals, with the bellies, with the shoulders, with the hams. We are working with that concept and coming out with ideas, working with the packers, identifying quality traits that have value and then working with different technologies that have the potential to provide this information in plants with different volumes. The idea at the end of the project will be to come up with a series of approaches and technologies that will be able to classify primals based on specific quality traits to guarantee that quality to the buyer.
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