Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990                   TAG: 9003242420
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PORK ADS ALL BALONEY, PRIVATE GROUP CLAIMS

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says an advertising campaign by the National Pork Producers Council - it touts pork as "the other white meat" - is "deceptive and dangerously misleading."

"The pork industry is trying to dupe consumers into thinking that pork is as healthful as chicken, turkey and fish," said Bruce Silverglade, CSPI legal director.

His group, which also has criticized producers and sellers of other foods on nutrition issues, filed a petition Friday asking the Federal Trade Commission to stop the pork council's claims and require advertising corrections.

But industry representatives say there's no problem to clean up.

"We're confident that our advertising is accurate and can be backed up by substantial scientific evidence," said Barry Pfouts, director of marketing for the council.

"All we have said all along is that our products . . . are nutritionally comparable to other accepted white meats," Pfouts added in defending the ad campaign.

The center says the industry has gone too far in claims that pork products are "low in cholesterol," "low in calories" and "low in fat."

"Government data show that almost all cuts of pork are considerably higher in fat, saturated fat and calories," said Silverglade.

But Mike Simpson, executive vice president of the Pork Board, said current nutritional assessments of pork are based on decade-old data that don't take into account recent research and improvements in breeding.

The latest information shows the amount of cholesterol in a 4-ounce serving of cooked pork is about the same as for similar servings of chicken and turkey, said Charles Mitchell, CSPI spokesman.

However, Mitchell said the amount and percentage of fat and the number of calories is substantially higher for pork.

Mitchell said 4 ounces of pork, trimmed of all visible fat, averages 14.8 grams or 13 percent fat, while a similar serving of skinless chicken averages 8.4 grams or 7.4 percent fat. Turkey weighs in at 2.9 grams or 2.6 percent fat per serving, according to Mitchell.

That information indicates the pork ads also violate Agriculture Department requirements that average servings of "low-fat" foods must be 10 percent or less fat to make the claim, the center said.

"We have fat measures of pork as low as 2 percent," countered Pfouts, of the pork producers council.

CSPI said it would also ask Congress to pressure the industry to increase its spending on research to reduce fat in pork.

Money for the pork advertising comes primarily from about $25 million collected annually from producers under the 1987 Pork Promotion and Research Act.

A House Agriculture subcommittee will review the law next week.