Ireland's agriculture and food development authority Teagasc has emphasized its commitment to the Irish pork sector by allocating almost EUR3 million (USD4.1 million) of funding to construct a modern state-of-the-art pig research center incorporating a food testing section.
No comparable center exists in Ireland and few facilities of a similar type have been started in Europe in recent times, a Teagasc farmers' conference was told by the head of the authority's pig development department, Ciarán Carroll.
The new centre will enable Teagasc to conduct research on various aspects of pork production as an essential component of a program that brings together investigation, knowledge transfer and training functions on producing pigs, connected to the evaluation of the health benefits of functional foods.
