U of M Extension helps pork producers ensure animal welfare and food safety

By Mark Whitney, University of Minnesota Extension

ST. PAUL, Minn. (6/15/2009) — Pork producers do an excellent job producing a safe, nutritious, and economic product. However, today’s consumers want assurances that the products that they eat have been produced in an environmentally responsible and safe manner, and that animals have received good care and welfare while being raised.

In order to assist pork producers in Minnesota to demonstrate their commitment to consumers and the general public, University of Minnesota Extension has teamed up with the Minnesota Pork Board to provide training and certification sessions for producers to become individually certified in Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA+) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA) programs. 

The PQA+ program, initially developed and implemented in 1989 and revised over the past 20 years, reviews on-farm management practices that enhance food safety while ensuring appropriate animal care and wellbeing. A second portion of the PQA+ program involves assessing production sites. The TQA training sessions educate individuals in pig behavior, animal handling and transport, and involve passing an open-book exam for certification. State swine Extension specialists, industry experts, and the National Pork Board were involved in development of both programs, and certification lasts 3 years.

In January, Hormel Foods announced they will require producers supplying hogs to them have all people working with pigs on their farms be individually certified in both the PQA+ and TQA programs, and that production units be site-assessed by the end of 2009. Since that time, other major packers and hog buyers in the upper Midwest, including JBS-Swift and Tyson, have made similar requests. This represents the majority of buyers of market hogs from Minnesota producers.

Training sessions are scheduled throughout the state at no cost to attend, and dates and locations can be accessed through the U of M Swine Extension website at www.extension.umn.edu/swine, but pre-registration is requested by calling (800) 537-7675. Groups can schedule their own trainings by contacting me, Mark Whitney, at (507)389-5541 or whitn007@umn.edu. Additionally, producers can contact me about having PQA+ site assessments conducted on their operations for a fee. It is expected that many assessments will be scheduled at the end of the year right before the packer deadline, so we are encouraging producers get their PQA+ assessments scheduled and conducted this summer before fall harvesting time.

Any use of this article must include the byline or following credit line:
Mark Whitney is swine specialist with University of Minnesota Extension.

Media Contact: Catherine Dehdashti, U of M Extension (612) 625-0237, ced@umn.edu

URL: http:// www.extension.umn.edu/extensionnews/2009/pork-producers-extension.html  This page was updated June 15, 2009 .
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