9-11 IAN Pork Demand

New Study Shows Pork is Fastest-Growing Protein in Foodservice According to an annual study on foodservice sales - pork has been the fastest growing protein within the foodservice industry over the past two-years. Certainly, there has been an increase in pork production in Idaho in recent years. Pork Checkoff Director of Foodservice Marketing Stephen Gerike says this is significant news: "Pork sales in food service has increased quite a bit over the last few years but more importantly since the beginning of the recession that hit the food service market pretty hard in 2008. We have not only recovered what the food service industry lost but we have outpaced the industry itself in terms of the amount of pork that was being sold prior to the recession." Pork sold through foodservice outlets reached a record 9.25-billion pounds this past year. Gerike says this growth is positive news for the pork industry: " The USDA recently reported that frozen pork supplies held in inventory were down 3.5-percent in June. That reduction reflects strong pork demand.