Farmscape for October 6, 2006  (Episode 2265)

A new guide to purchasing, handling and cooking pork is now being made available throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

All about Pork was developed by Manitoba Pork Council and updates a similar guide produced in 1996.

Manitoba Pork Council home economist Marlene McDonald notes the guide contains updated nutrition information and outlines the new cut names for pork, how to identify those cuts and it offers recipes for each.

Clip-Marlene McDonald-Manitoba Pork Council 

It's a very comprehensive guide.

It's 28 pages so it includes a lot of information on pork nutrition, how pork compares to other foods, the characteristics of the cuts and how the name of the cut actually will indicate how that cut should be prepared.

For example, whether it's a roast or a chop or whether it comes from the centre or the sirloin or the rib end of the loin or if it's from the loin or from the leg or from the shoulder.

All those things are just more information that give the consumer a guide as to how to prepare the different cuts.

As well we have a lot of food safety and food handling information which is another important thing.

The pork that we get at the supermarket is a safe wholesome product.

The majority of Canadian pork producers are on the Canadian Quality Assurance program which means that they practice on farm food safety and their farms are validated annually to make sure that those procedures are being followed so that the pork reaching the supermarket is a safe and wholesome product.

In this book we have some food handling information to make sure that when you get that pork home that you handle it in a safe method with proper food handling techniques to make sure that you continue that process.

All about Pork is being made available through the provincial pork organizations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia and it's also been distributed  in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as a newspaper insert.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council