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Duroc pork producer focuses on flavor through specialized feeding program

The operations manager for a specialty meat producer says there are several steps to ensuring a premium product.

Dr. Steven Larsen with Iowa Craft Meats tells Brownfield they promote an elevated pork eating experience that starts with great swine genetics.

“That’s the building block of what we do. And then we also change the diet the last six weeks of that pig’s life, where we feed some canola, we feed some flaxseed to get that different eating experience. It has a brighter fat, the lean is a little bit darker.”

Speaking to Brownfield at the Midwest Meat Summit hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa Thursday, he said taste and flavor rule the industry.

“So when you start out with good genetics, a great feeding program, and then how they’ve coordinated packer distribution system that maintains that quality throughout, we find that customers are really wanting that elevated eating experience for pork.”

Larsen says Iowa Craft Meats raises and markets family farm-raised Duroc pork and sells fresh cuts, bacon, hams, sausages, and meat bundles.