APL congratulates Porkmark licensees awarded at fine food show

05-10-2011 | Home | News

Australian Pork Limited (APL), the national producer representative body for Australian pork producers, has congratulated the nine PorkMark licensees for their award-winning performances at this year’s Royal Melbourne Fine Food Show.

The Australian PorkMark program currently has 343 licensees and as a participant they earn the right to display the hot pink Australian PorkMark on the packaging of Australian grown ham, bacon and smallgoods products. The PorkMark is a guarantee to consumers that the product in the pack is Australian grown pork.

APL CEO Andrew Spencer said, currently over 70 per cent of the ham, bacon and smallgoods products consumed in Australia is made from imported pork. Under the current labelling system in this country it is impossible for consumers to differentiate between what’s imported and what’s Australian grown in retail deli cabinets. All they have to go on is three ambiguous labels; Product of Australia, Made in Australia and Made from Local and Imported Ingredients. In reality the real differentiator comes down to price and of course the highly subsidised, cheaper imported pork is going to win out every time.

“It is pleasing to see Australian companies stand by Australian grown pork and be justly awarded for the quality of their products”.

The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria conducts the Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards and sees it as a useful benchmarking system for levels of excellence for respective food industries. Conducted annually, the Awards present a unique opportunity for all manufacturers, from the commercial giants to the small boutique businesses, to present their products for judging. This year there were nine categories of which the PorkMark licensees featured heavily in the medals for Delicatessen – dips, antipasti, smallgoods and uncooked sausages (fresh sausages that are not processed smallgoods).

Out of the 40 medals awarded in the 17 classes, 32 of them went to Australian PorkMark Licensees with an additional medal being awarded in the packaging category. How they performed:

Additional to this exceptional performance by these individual companies, was the news that San Jose Smallgoods from South Australia won the overall Champion Smallgoods Award with his Prosciutto and Princi Butchers from Western Australia won the overall Champion Uncooked Sausage Award with a Casalingo Sausage.

Mr Spencer said the Australian pork industry is justifiably proud of the achievements of all of these PorkMark licensees. It is also a true testament to the quality of Australian grown pork.

Source: Australian Pork Limited (APL)