Page 13 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Victorian producers
‘pay it forward’ to
garner local support
VICTORIAN pork pro- ducers are ‘paying it forward’ by donating hundreds of kilograms of high-quality pork to not-for-profit organisa- tion FareShare in an ef- fort to feed Victorians doing it tough.
FareShare rescues food and fights hunger by cooking and distribut- ing nutritious meals to the people most in need across our community.
It operates Australia’s largest charity kitchen from Melbourne and with the help of 850 regular volunteers, FareShare cooks 5000 free meals a day for charities such as soup vans, homeless shel- ters, women’s refuges and community food banks.
As part of the new initiative, Victorian pig farmers will donate about 250kg of pork to Fare- Share, which it will in- corporate into approxi- mately 2000 meals per week and distribute to the most-needy Victorians.
This donation of high- quality Australian pork will provide those cur- rently experiencing food insecurity with a nutri- tious, protein-rich meal that would otherwise not be available to them.
The initiative launches in the midst of challeng- ing times for Victoria’s pig farmers, who are fac- ing significant oversup- ply and an unexpected price drop at the farm gate – in many cases be- low the cost of produc- tion.
Farmers are calling on Victorians to get some more pork on their forks to boost demand and re- duce the oversupply, ask- ing consumers to simply add fresh and delicious pork to another plate each week.
Victorian Farmers Federation Pig Group president Tim Kingma
said while the present oversupply of pork was negatively impacting on Victorian pig farmers, many felt compelled to assist those in less for- tunate circumstances by redirecting some of their excess pork to those who need it most.
“Our organisation, together with the local processing industry, has decided to donate pork to FareShare to feed Victo- rians in need,” Mr King- ma said.
“As we help those less fortunate, we hope Victo- rian families will put an- other serve of pork in their shopping trolley a week.
“Pork is currently dis- counted in many super- markets, so it’s a great opportunity to experi- ment with different cuts of highly nutritious, lean pork and prepare new and different meals for the whole family.
“Not only will you be consuming the highest- quality, freshest Austral- ian pork, you will also be supporting Victoria’s pig farms, many of which are family owned and oper- ated and have been for many generations.”
FareShare head chef Chris Mitchison said with protein being an in- tegral part of a balanced diet, it is great to have some top-quality pork on offer.
“Meat casseroles are the first choice of meal for struggling families,” Ms Mitchison said.
“The donated pork will improve the quality of our meals and boost the protein content for people who really need it.”
For more information on how to incorporate pork into your weekly menu plan and on the new partnership between the VFF and FareShare, please visit pork.com.au
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Australian Pork Newspaper, August 2018 – Page 13