The 2010 Standard Nutrition Pork Quality Competition, held in conjunction with Manitoba Hog and Poultry Days 2010 attracted 30 hog carcasses from 15 Manitoba operations.

Woodland Colony of Poplar Point claimed this year's top award.

Pork Quality Competition chair Blair Cressman says judging criteria reflects the grading criteria used by the companies producers market their hogs to.

Blair Cressman-Manitoba Hog and Poultry Days

This is something that the operations take very seriously.

We get together on an annual basis before the show and break down what criteria they want to focus on.

Often there's changes that are made to the actual grading of their own hogs and we want this competition to replicate as closely as possible the grading criteria that their market hogs are paid out on.

We focus on first off hitting the proper weight zone, having the right amount of backfat and the right amount of loin depth that actually creates a hog index.

That's what they're routinely measured on.

We then take it one step further and we look at the true meat attributes that often they aren't paid on but that are an important part of getting a good quality pork product on your plate so that would be marbling, as well as color of the meat.

You want to have a nice fresh pink color.

We also look at the belly and we score the belly because that is a high value meat, the bacon of the pig.

We put that all together and come up with the top carcass.

Mr Cressman says a total of just over 20 thousand dollars was shared by the top ten exhibitors, 100 per cent of which was donated to the charity of the winners' choice.

Additionally, he notes, meat from the 30 hogs entered in this year's competition has been donated to Winnipeg Harvest for distribution to Manitoba's food banks.