Page 5 - APN June 2017

Dangerously good – Shark Lake Piggery produces Australia’s best pork steak
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HIGH-quality pork that impressed as raw and cooked product has been named Australia’s best in the second Steak Your Claim competition.
The Australian Pork Limited competition at- tracted entries from across the country, but it was Shark Lake Piggery, Esperance, Western Aus- tralia that took top hon- ours.
Australian Pork Lim- ited’s general manager of Marketing Peter Haydon said all APL members
were invited to enter the competition and have their pork assessed by the highly qualified chef judging panel.
“We know our farm- ers produce a high-qual- ity product, but we were looking for something a bit special, a product that they believed would out- perform their peers,” he said.
“A panel of three judges had the tough job of as- sessing the steak entries, looking for the best over- all pork and noting any
distinctive characteris- tics.”
The raw and cooked pork loin steaks were independently judged against a number of cri- teria.
These included the col- our, visual appeal and marbling of the raw prod- uct, as well as the aro- ma, flavour, tenderness, juiciness and texture once cooked.
Stephen Hoffrichter from the family-run Shark Lake Piggery entered the steaks from his Landrace pigs that had been fed lu- pins and barley.
Judges commended the product as having ex- cellent marbling, being bright and beautiful when raw and having a great flavour profile, excellent juiciness and being an al-
dente style pork.
“We have worked hard
on quality improvement, invested more than $2 million in the past few years and worked closely with our stock providers,” Mr Hoffrichter said.
“It’s really great to have our efforts rewarded in this way.”
Judges awarded second place to Byron Bay Pork, NSW, for a Berkshire cross, which had been fed a mixed grain diet, while third place went to The Butcher’s Block, WA, for a Large White Berkshire cross fed wheat, lupins and meat meal.
The competition attract- ed significant prizemoney for the first three places, but also marketing oppor- tunities for their product.
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SteakYour Claim judges Paul Cooper, Paul McDonald and Alex Herbert.
Sow stalls – time’s up
President’s Perspective
by JOHN COWARD
IN 2010 the pork industry voted to support a voluntary phase-out of the use of sow stalls (gesta- tion stalls) by April 2017.
In Queensland, the legislation now re- quires that a sow must not be confined for more than six weeks of any gestation pe- riod.
The exception to this rule is for indi- vidual sows that are under veterinary ad- vice or special care by a competent stock- person.
The decision to voluntarily adopt the plan demonstrated to consumers, welfare agencies and retail- ers that industry was taking charge of its future and as such gained high regard for the move.
While the vast ma- jority of producers took up the challenge to make the change, with many now meet- ing a much shorter period of time de- manded by retailers, a number of producers were not pressured by markets but are now
required to ensure they meet the new standard of no more than a six-week pe- riod of confinement.
Producers who took up the challenge have used a variety of tech- niques and designs to reach acceptable pro- duction figures and legislative require- ments, and for those still in the change process, informa- tion is available on the Pork CRC website porkcrc.com.au
There are two pub- lications for down- load from the web- site: ‘Feeding Preg- nant Sows in Group Housing Systems – an update’ and ‘Mixing Sows: How to Max- imise Welfare’.
The Australian Pork Limited website (aus tralianpork.com.au) also has a publication available for down- load titled ‘Group Housing Case Stud- ies’.
Should any Queens- land producers re- quire further infor- mation on compli- ance with the require- ments, contact me on 0407 622 166.
www.porknews.com.au
Australian Pork Newspaper, June 2017 – Page 5