AHDB launches new campaign to promote pulled pork

AHDB has launched a welcome new campaign to encourage people to eat pulled pork at home to help rebalance the pork carcase during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Farmers and the wider industry are being urged help circulate the mesaages of the much-needed £100,000 Make it Pulled Pork campaign. Running for six weeks from April 22, it is aiming to ‘get the nation to fall in love with pulled pork, and recreate a favourite eating-out dish at home’.

The campaign will help boost the domestic market for pork shoulder joints, which would normally have a ready outlet in pubs and restaurants.

The UK pork sector has coped far better than many other sectors with the radical transformation in consumer habits caused by the coronavirus restrictions, helped partly by strong export volumes to China, which have helped balance the carcase.

But stocks of shoulders and bellies have been building up in cold stores due to the loss of much of the food service trade.

Typically, the eating-out market accounts for around 14% of all pork volume sales in Great Britain. But AHDB estimates the recent loss of foodservice outlets could lead to an additional 503 million in-home meal occasions per week, ‘providing a perfect opportunity for consumers to rekindle their passion for pulled pork’.

Spanning digital and print media, the Make it Pulled Pork campaign will feature advertising in national newspapers, reaching an estimated audience of four million consumers.

New content has been added to AHDB’s consumer-facing website, LovePork, providing tips and advice on how to cook and serve the perfect, succulent pork shoulder. On social media, posts and recipe suggestions will be targeted at LovePork’s 100,000 Instagram and Facebook followers using the hashtag #PerfectPulledPork.

Farmers and others in the supply chain are being encouraged to boost the campaign’s goals by posting assets, which can be downloaded for free at ahdb.org.uk/pulled-pork, or by photographing their own recipes and using the hashtag.

Angela Christison, AHDB Strategy Director for pork, said: “Pulled pork offers an easy, affordable and delicious way for families to recreate restaurant-quality food in the comfort of their own home. It is such a simple and tasty dish that needs very little effort or cooking ability.

“I encourage the industry to get involved in the campaign and help spread the word about #PerfectPulledPork in these challenging times.”