THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220261
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 56 lines
It has been five years since Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph W. Luter III chartered a few 747 jets and flew 2,000 special guests from England to the United States.
Now, Hampton Roads residents will get their first chance to have those guests for dinner. Literally.
On that transatlantic flight were pigs bred by National Pig Development Co. of East Yorkshire, England. Smithfield bought the rights to the NPD pigs in the United States and Mexico. The company fostered a herd for several years and is now shipping its Lean Generation pork products to grocery stores across the country.
Smithfield Foods and Farm Fresh announced at a news conference Tuesday that Lean Generation pork is now in stock at the Norfolk-based grocery store chain. Lean Generation is already available in grocery stores in 19 states.
Smithfield has been touting Lean Generation pork for a couple of years, saying it may be the meat that transforms the pork industry. Pork from NPD hogs is comparable to skinless chicken in its fat content, which is between 35 and 61 percent lower than traditional pork, the company says.
The Smithfield, Va.-based pork processor's claims are backed by studies conducted by the Sarah Stedman Center for Nutritional Studies at Duke University.
``I'm here to tell you it's true,'' said Michelle McGee, lab manager at the Stedman Center, who came to Norfolk to speak at the news briefing.
Luter called the Lean Generation pork revolutionary and predicted it would ``be embraced by an American public'' looking for lean alternatives to poultry. But he admitted that selling the new pork may not be as easy as he first thought.
``The one negative is a product that is lean cooks about 20 percent faster than a product that's fat,'' Luter said. ``And if you cook it the wrong amount of time, it's tough.''
Farm Fresh will offer classes to teach customers how to cook Lean Generation pork. The store also will be passing out recipes developed by restaurant chefs who have been incorporating the pork into their recipes for several years.
Smithfield will offer packages of marinated Lean Generation pork as well as microwaveable items.
In a first for pork packaging, Lean Generation packages will provide information about the product's fat content and other nutritional qualities. Lean Generation is the only complete line of pork that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved to use the word ``lean'' on its label.
``We really think this will be a national brand . . . quickly,'' said Jim Schloss, vice president of marketing for Smithfield. ILLUSTRATION: B\W photo
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KEYWORDS: SMITHFIELD FOODS LEAN PORK PIG HOG by CNB