Spencer Long, Genesus Director of Marketing
The tribulations of this industry seemingly continue unabated until we fix the very problem we all know exists but seemingly refuse to change. US pork consumption has decreased and been flatline since the 1970s when Nixon was President. Overall, US meat consumption has increased 50 lbs. per capita since that time (50+ years) but pork consumption is lower today than it was a generation ago. Mission accomplished for our industry – we lost market share and remain stagnant spinning our wheels, wondering why more people won’t buy the industry’s overall abysmal tasting pork product. Every single survey shows that “TASTE” is the number one factor in consumers buying decisions. We know this yet, as an industry, we put our head in the sand and act like it doesn’t matter or the best line “consumers won’t pay for it”, which is a lie.
In a recent article on the US pork industry, a number of farmers and farm group representatives were in Japan to see firsthand US pork on display and how it is promoted there. In the article, one US producer on the trip was quoted, “Relative to quality, Japan actually sets the standard in the United States. The quality standard at every plant is based on the color expectation that the Japanese customer wants. And believe it or not, our highest quality pork loins, much of our highest quality pork, ends up in this market here in Japan.” The highest quality pork ends up in Japan rather than in the USA. US consumers aren’t even given an opportunity to try the pork that will meet the Japanese criteria on color and taste and instead are given the junk you all see so often at every supermarket and big-box-store across America. I’m not sure this is something in our industry we want to be broadcasting to US consumers, most consumers probably wouldn’t love the idea of only getting the rejected pork product due to its inferiority for Japanese consumers. All consumers want a better tasting pork product, but it is not consistently delivered and that needs to change.
Pork consumption has decreased over 50 years when overall meat consumption has gone up significantly. Per capita chicken consumption for its part 50 years ago was 24 lbs. less than pork, today it is 59 lbs. more than pork – an 83 lb. per capita swing overall. To try and counteract it and pander to what was viewed as important at the time, the industry tried chasing chicken with The Other White Meat program, which failed miserably and made pork today be totally devolved of any sort of taste or color. The reality is today, consumers are eating significantly more chicken, but they still have a desire for red meat. Statistics from 2022 showed that in the Midwest, USA, the average annual expenditure per consumer on red meat was $572 vs. chicken at $222. A $350 difference is reflective of people’s desire to consume red meat and pay more for it. Imagine if we could provide consumers with a consistent, better tasting pork product what that could do to demand.
At Genesus we have been working on producing better tasting pork at a competitive cost of production for over 25 years because we believed this was the direction the industry needed to go in order to survive. We’ve been doing it and continue to do it because we believe fundamentally it’s what as an industry, we need to do to survive and deliver to consumers, what every consumer study shows is the number one factor in people’s purchasing decisions – TASTE. We have a great opportunity in this industry to change, for the better and ensure the next generation of producers has a viable chance rather than a death spiral resulting in people quitting and consolidation rapidly increasing. We are all in this industry because we love what we do, we are passionate about it because we want what’s best for everyone involved in it. We know what consumers desire more of, and now it’s our job to provide it for them – Taste.
Sources:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-usa?time=1970..latest
