The Real Pork Trust Consortium is a team of academia striving to listen to and answer consumer questions about pork and pork production. Nick Gabler is an animal science professor at Iowa State University. He talks about the Real Pork Consortium and what it addresses.
“There are spectrums of concern with regard to how pork is produced, and also the value of pork within the human food chain. The idea of the Real Pork Trust Consortium is actually to address those concerns by figuring out what are the concerns, what is the messaging that consumers or society are concerned about with regard to any of the spectrums, whether we’re talking about animal welfare, where we’re talking about the nutritional value of pork, food safety. So, what is the actual science that underpins those spectrums, and then how can we get that message to resonate with different sectors of society to address those spectrums?”
The Consortium also works on researching what messages consumers are hearing.
“The other part of it is conducting research gap analysis, or research analysis on what information is out there, or what’s not out there, and then, can we use that information, then, to address whatever the concerns are? Because the idea we’re trying to build trust in pork production, trust in pork products, and then using science to underpin that, and then also understanding how information is communicated both ways – from consumers back to producers, producers to consumers – and then how can we enhance that process?”
All of the research done by the Real Pork Trust Consortium is designed to help pork producers be at their best.
“The idea is that we’re there to support producers, where we’re a steward of their resources, their checkoff dollars. We’re there to help them improve, not just science communications or communications, but also train up the future workforce generation and then, as well as help them improve and utilize research more effectively to make sure their businesses are sustainable. And then, the idea is that overall, that we’re helping producers build trust in pork production that then can be communicated with society and general public and consumers.”
Visit real pork trust dot org to access the resources.