Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1488

Canada Pork International is going all out in Japan with its new 'Branding Canada' promotion. The three cent per hog generic promotion was launched early last month and targets newspapers and the subway system in Japan in an effort to build Japanese consumer awareness of Canadian pork.

Canada Pork International President Bill Vaags says the promotion is, in part, a response to meat labeling scandals in Japan and that country's subsequent introduction of Country of Origin labeling requirements.

"In the last few years there's been a lot of mislabeling going on in the Japanese market. The Japanese consumer didn't trust the system anymore because they were labeling different kinds of meat, which they claimed was Japanese product and it wasn't Japanese product so the consumer really got scared out there.

That's why we got a glitch in the market in 2003 where we actually lost about three or four percent and so we said 'we've got to do something different.

We've got to go out there and show them who we are and prove to them this is fresh chilled Canadian product. They have nothing to fear. Canada is clean, clean water clean air. Then we sent a delegation over there to really assess the situation, what it was like in Japan. As you've seen, that's been very successful.

People are very impressed and we think Japan still holds a real strong opportunity for us."

The 'Branding Canada' promotion runs complimentary to what the Canadian exporters, including Maple Leaf, Olymel and Quality Meat Packers are already doing on their own in Japan.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.