Alberta food banks will receive 600,000 pounds of ground pork from pigs slaughtered under the federal cull sow program.
It’s estimated 4,000 Alberta sows will be shipped to designated slaughter plants for processing. The pork will go to 110 food banks, which are used by more than 40,000 people a month.
Alberta agriculture minister George Groeneveld said the program is an attempt to turn a negative into a positive.
“Alberta producers are committed to having some good come out of the severe challenges the industry is facing right now,” Groeneveld said.
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The government will provide up to $300,000 for processing the pork.
Under the federal program, which is designed to reduce the national hog herd, eligible producers will receive $225 per cull sow and are required to keep their barns free of sows for three years. Original program rules said meat from the cull was not to replace existing supplies of retail pork, but changes were made to allow it to be given to food banks.
In Alberta, the Western Hog Exchange will co-ordinate the transport of animals to Sunterra Meats and Lucerne Foods.
Richard Le Sueur of the Alberta Food Bank Network Association said the donations would be a “good shot in the arm,” for food banks, which often have difficulty supplying meat to food bank users.
“It will be an excellent source of protein for our clients,” he said.
Jodi Hesse, director of policy and communication with Alberta Pork, said 51 producers have applied to the cull sow program. The first set of approvals were to be made May 7 and the meat should be in food banks by the end of the month.
