Verified Canadian Pork Embraced by Domestic and International Consumers Alike

Customer feedback is showing “Verified Canadian Pork” is being embraced by consumers both domestically and internationally

By Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online

“We’re about two and a half years into this so right now we’re measuring our success based on the utilization of the brand from end user customers and further processors who want this information,” Michael Young, Vice President of Technical Programs and Marketing Services with Canada Pork International told FarmScape Online. “They’re telling us that their customers want this information and that they want it to be part of their value proposition moving forward.”

“It’s a co-branding situation where you’re adding our brand to your brand and our customers see a value in this”

 

Verified Canadian Pork is a branding program originally developed to assure Canadian consumers the pork they buy is Canadian and it’s been expanded to include international customers.

“One of our best success stories is Costco Japan,” he stated. “They have grabbed onto the Verified Canadian Pork Program and all of the Costco warehouses in Japan, which is 27 warehouses, are now 100 percent Canadian pork and they feature Verified Canadian Pork as the major brand.”

Young says it’s based on the on-farm food safety and quality assurance systems our farmers have followed for years combined with Canada’s world renowned food inspection system and attributes like mandatory traceability for pigs and no use of growth hormones.

“Eventually we will be able to monitor how many people, through focus groups focused on noticing the brand in the market place and what they think.”

Young says the Verified Canadian Pork Program speaks to trust, it speaks to confidence and it speaks to quality.

“It’s just a little too soon to do that yet, so right now our measurement, our metrics are based on utilization by end user customers and feedback from them because it’s a co-branding situation where you’re adding our brand to your brand and our customers see a value in this.”