Marketing pork shoulder for home cooking hog roast, an increasingly popular choice in the UK, was the winning entry in the inaugural ABN Innovation Awards.
Announced at the British Pig and Poultry Fair, held this month, the idea came from Alistair Butler, age 29, a partner in a family business running a 2,000 sow outdoor free range unit.
Mr Butler commented: “We export GBP 3 million (US$4.4 million) pigs’ worth of shoulders at low prices each year, which devalues the cut. If we create a demand for these we can get a better balance of carcass use and increase consumption of British Red Tractor Pork.”
To achieve this, the recipient of the GBP 1,000 prize money suggested educating consumers on the value of the pork shoulder, and promoting the shoulder as part of the increasingly fashionable hog roast. He suggested farm shops and catering outlets, as well as high street retailers, as key target markets.
The ANB Innovation Award was established to provide an opportunity for young people from within and outside the pig industry to put forward concepts to market British pig or poultry food products to the UK consumer.
