New Tools Under Development to Improve Quality Classification of Pork

New tools being developed to improve and standardize the classification of Canadian pork will improve the ability of processors to meet the quality demands of international customers. Scientists working in partnership with Swine Innovation Porc are creating new tools to assist the Canadian pork sector in developing a standardized pork classification system based on the quality attributes most desired by export customers. Dr. Manuel Juárez, a Livestock Phenomics Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Lacombe Research and Development Centre, says the goal is to expand on existing grading standards.

 

Clip-Dr. Manuel Juárez-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada:

The original idea was to start with the loin because it is the standard, still today, be able in a first stage to guarantee there wouldn’t be any PSE or Pale Soft Exudative or low quality pork in the shipment to the buyer if he was guaranteed by this grade of quality from Canada. The second stage would go farther and then be able to guarantee a minimum colour and marbling for those primals going to buyers willing to pay a premium. Then the next phase would be to do something similar with all the primals, with the bellies, with the shoulders, with the hams. We are working with that concept and coming out with ideas, working with the packers, identifying quality traits that have value and then working with different technologies that have the potential to provide this information in plants with different volumes. The idea at the end of the project will be to come up with a series of approaches and technologies that will be able to classify primals based on specific quality traits to guarantee that quality to the buyer.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.