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Indiana Pork connecting producers and consumers through Ivy Tech Meat Fabrication Lab

A long-standing partnership is helping consumers understand how pork is raised and prepared.

Jeanette Merritt, communications director for Indiana Pork, says the Ivy Tech Community College Meat Fabrication Lab is giving students hands-on experiences with meat processing.

“Their Meat Fabrication Lab has stations where they’re able to hang the carcasses in their cooling lockers,” she says. “The students can then bring that product out to cook it. It really teaches that next generation how to properly prepare a pig.”

She tells Brownfield producers are teaching participants about pork production and the We Care Principles. 

“It’s really great when you see them engaged and you see how interested they are in what’s taking place on the farm,” she says. “It gives them that base understanding of why pig farmers raise pigs the way we do and why our industry is so passionate about raising pigs.”  

Merritt says investing in these kinds of programs help develop the next generation of consumers. 

AUDIO: Jeanette Merritt, Indiana Pork