Video is exciting, visually appealing and has a way of capturing what photos ...

Video is exciting, visually appealing and has a way of capturing what photos or words alone can’t. That is why the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), in cooperation with the National Pork Board (NPB), recently coordinated a television crew visit to Iowa, to give Japanese viewers a direct eye into the safety, production and quality care that goes into U.S. pork.

“Presenting Japanese consumers with knowledge about the safety and quality of U.S. pork, while providing a new look at the product, is our goal for these visits,” said Shinobu Shimada, USMEF consumer affairs manager.

The film crew captured footage of Mike Bravard’s family-owned pork farm located in Jefferson, Iowa, taking images of the farm, pigs and his family enjoying a pork loin dinner to broadcast back in Japan.

They learned about the grain that is fed to the pigs, how they are raised and the specifics of the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) program that emphasizes producing safe, wholesome and nutritious pork for consumers.

“We feel it’s necessary to promote our product,” said Bravard. “By increasing foreign consumers’ knowledge about the safety of U.S. pork, we can help make it the meat of choice in Japan.”

In addition to visiting the farm, the crew visited Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa where they filmed a feast being prepared by executive chef Shad Kirton, who served three different pork dishes to his guests.  

“The crew taped everything from the chefs preparing pork to customers eating it,” said Ceci Snyder, NPB assistant vice president of consumer marketing .

The crew concluded its trip by stopping by the Machine Shed Restaurant in Des Moines, where chef Guy DeSerio prepared pork dishes for them. In addition, the crew visited Fareway grocery store to tape consumers purchasing pork at the meat counter.

The segments taped on this trip will be aired this spring and summer on Japan’s equivalent to the Food Network, which attracts more than two million viewers.

The U.S. pork industry experienced its 15th year of export growth in 2005, setting a volume record of 1.1 million metric tons (mt). The value of U.S. pork (including variety meat) exports to countries around the world totaled $2.635 billion last year, compared to $2.227 billion in 2004. U.S. pork sales to the United States’ No. 1 market, Japan, climbed 13 percent in volume (353,928 mt) and 11 percent in value ($1.088 billion).

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –