“Consumers will be better able to identify cuts of pork because they are now more aligned with beef and veal names which people are already familiar with,“ explains Clare Schlegel, President of the Canadian Pork Council. “For example, pork loin tenderloin end is now pork sirloin. Consumers are familiar with the term ‘sirloin’ and it does elevate the cut in the minds of consumers. Anatomically, a pork sirloin is identical to a beef, veal or lamb sirloin.“

Consumers will also see consistency in pork cut names. “Since the last set of names was developed almost 30 years ago, there has been a proliferation of cuts to match consumer preferences,“ continues Mr. Schlegel. “This pork nomenclature system standardizes the hundreds of ways you can merchandise pork across Canada. Now, no matter what store you're visiting or in which province you live, the same pork cut will have the same name.“

Retailers identified the need for uniform names that were anatomically aligned with the other commodities and asked their provincial pork producer associations to initiate the process of reviewing the list. A Task Force with representatives from retail, processing, government and the hog industry spent two years revising the list.

The switch to the new pork nome nclature is currently underway and will be complete by January 1, 2005 when the new names become mandatory.

Source: Canadian Pork Council - 7th September 2004