If networking is the soul of Banff Pork Seminar, then the breakout sessions are its heart. This is where producers, veterinarians, technicians, truckers, scientists and sales staff get together for an intimate look at the new developments that are of the most interest to them.

Possibly one of the more tantalizing of this year’s offerings was the session whose rather bland title – Meat Quality – thoroughly understated the impact of having a very good butcher demonstrate some unique and fascinating cuts, followed up with a discussion of where pork fits as a healthy food source.

Master meat cutter Michael Young, manager of the domestic and export marketing programs for Canada Pork International, spoke about the properties people from different parts of the world seek in judging and selecting pork products.

In recent years, Canadian pork has earned a place of its own in Japan’s meat markets, said Young.

“Japan . . . has been such a success story for our industry. We opened the CPI office in 2010 with a single mandate: That was to support the growth of chilled pork with our packer-processors. At that time, we could see where the market was and we dominated it, and over the last 10 years we’ve really gone after it,” said Young.

“The industry has stepped up, they have changed their technology and moved forward, and I’m happy to say that this market has just grown and grown and grown for us.”

Young said a key official in Japan’s industry has told him that Canada has done such a good job, it has created a third category, where there once were two: Domestic and imported pork. Canadian pork is in now in a separate category, distinct from domestic and other imports,” he said.

Included in the development of Canada’s place in the Japanese market is an annual school competition in Osaka, where children are asked to submit a menu based on Canadian ingredients.

Young opened his demonstration by showing how the top two entries used meat from cuts that, in Canada, would occupy the cheaper end of the grocer’s display. He went on to show how chefs in different parts of the world create a wide variety of delicacies in the ways they cut shoulders, ribs and pork belly.

He said some of the cutting styles unique to Japan as well as other countries are starting to have an influence in Canada.

Brian Sullivan, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement, said pork has qualities that make it much more than a source of protein.

People who have been told for the last 50 years to cut back on the amount of fat they eat are now beginning to understand that fat is a healthy component in their diet while a high percentage of carbohydrates are creating health problems.

Pigs are exceptionally good at turning carbohydrates that are unhealthy for human consumption into high-quality fat for human consumption, said Sullivan.

“The money is following the fat if you consider our current markets for pork and if you consider which parts of the hog are most valuable today,” he said.

“As more consumers discover that more fat may be healthier and tastier, demand for pork will move up.

In a plenary session earlier on, food marketing professor David Hughes from United Kingdom and Ellen Goddard, cooperative chair of marketing and business at the University of Alberta described changes in global markets and consumer preferences.

While the demand for meat is growing overall, the per capita consumption of meat in higher-income countries has remained static, said Hughes.

He described a “retreat from meat,” in which people seek protein from other sources, such as protein bars and fake meat. Consumers in North American have come to distrust food products from large corporations, which are producing new opportunities for smaller businesses.

“All the growth in sales from food manufacturing has come from small firms,” said Hughes.

“I’ve never seen as good an opportunity for small firms to do well.” As an example, he cited the Epic protein bar, which started small and was recently sold to General Mills for $100 million. “If you’ve got a good idea about food, now is the time to put it into action,” said Hughes.

Goddard spoke about consumer reaction to technological advances in food production.

Goddard said investigations into why people are reducing or eliminating meat consumption indicated that price is not as much of a factor as health and animal welfare.

The Canadian Verified Pork program has shown encouraging results for pork producers. Canadian consumers love the maple leaf on their pork products and the attributes they associate with it, said Goddard.

“Consumers trust farmers to tell them how things are produced, and they don’t necessarily trust other people to tell them the same thing,” said Goddard.

Pork consumers want to hear more from farmers, who are critical to the acceptance of our food products, she said.

“We’ve always had high quality in our supply chain. We’ve always had very high-quality pork production system. But I think we have forgotten that the consumer did not know that for a very long period of time.”

Goddard said Canadian consumers trust technological advances in animal care and the assessment of animal welfare but are much more apprehensive about the use of genetic technologies in agriculture and food production. For instance, her studies revealed that pork consumers who are willing to pay a premium for pork from disease-resistant pigs but would pay a much less premium if that trait was achieved through genetic technology.

She was intrigued by a recent study in Vermont, where labelling is now required on genetically modified foods. Researchers found that people were not interested in what the labels said, but were satisfied just knowing that the labels were there.

“It was sufficient for them to stop worrying about it,” said Goddard.

“The perception of hiding things is the thing that makes people most concerned. I really wonder if the opposition would be as strong if we were more open and transparent.”

Additional breakout sessions focused on a wide variety of topics, ranging from management of people and pigs to transporting animals and getting the best use of big data.

Speaker profiles and abstracts from selected presentations are posted on the Banff Pork website, www.banffpork.ca •

— By Brenda Kossowan