U.S. pork loin an emerging star in Mexico

With one month still to be reported, U.S. pork exports to Mexico have already set an annual record for 2023. U.S. pork loin is an emerging star in the market, and with support from USDA and the National Pork Board, the U.S. Meat Export Federation conducted a host of promotions in Mexico showcasing the loin.

Lorenzo Elizalde, USMEF's director of marketing and trade in Mexico recently detailed these activities for pork industry leaders.

"The U.S. pork truck has made a tremendous contribution to promote pork loin. This year we have conducted around 150 samplings and tasting activities and over 50 activities involve recipes using pork loin. These activities have been conducted in 25 cities with 18 commercial partners," said Elizalde.

"At the beginning of this year we implemented the Pork Loin Quality Sample Program with a commercial partner located in Monterrey - CediCarnes. Pork loin was distributed among the customers of CediCarnes. And also we used the pork truck to conduct tasting demonstrations with all the customers of CediCarnes that participated in the workshop."

New consumer products developed in Mexico include smoked pork loin and a chopped loin product used in tacos.

"New product development has been very important. We believe that if we want to increase demand for pork loin, we need to develop new products. This year we developed two new products - chuleta ahumada, which is smoked loin, and also chuleta taquera. This is a chopped loin that is used for tacos," said Elizalde.