CRC sees healthy role for australian pork

Pork’s role in a balanced diet and lifestyle and how it might assist weight management and address critical health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, is the focus of the CRC For High Integrity Australian Pork Subprogram 3B, ‘Health benefits of fresh pork’.

The Pork CRC has allocated a set amount of its research funds for shorter term Innovation projects to be funded for 12 months and to a maximum of $50,000.

According to Pork CRC CEO, Dr Roger Campbell, these projects may fill gaps in existing knowledge, or investigate new science and theories able to develop system changing information/technologies.

The Pork CRC is calling for shorter term projects (closes April 20) in Subprogram 3B that represent genuine innovation and the following priorities have been set:

• Determine pork’s role of as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle on weight management and weight maintenance to address health issues, including Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease in Australia.
• Demonstrate use and form of pork in the diet of elderly Australians to preserve muscle mass and cognition.
• Demonstrate inherent benefits of consuming pork in diets of Australian children, with particular focus on innovatively incorporating pork into children’s meals.
• Use of animal and/or human models to determine if including fresh pork or enriched pork in the diet can deliver potential positive health outcomes to humans, including early stage bowel and prostate cancer development and gut health (e.g. microbiota).
• The effect of pork on protein digestion and amino acid metabolism.

On a broader scale across all of the Pork CRC’s four programs, research projects demonstrating quality, system changing science that could successfully be adopted by Australia’s pork industry will shortly be considered and recommended for funding by the CRC’s Expert Scientific Groups before being put to the CRC’s R&D Committee and Board in June.

The CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork has four programs:

1. Confinement free sow and piglet management
2. Herd health management
3. Healthy pork consumption
4. Carbon-conscious nutrient inputs and outputs

Dr Campbell said that although he had only briefly reviewed some of the research proposals, as the final lodgement date (March 31) had only just passed, he was pleased at the obvious effort researchers and proponents had put into addressing stated priorities.

“There certainly looks to be some exciting proposals to be considered,” he said.

“As the CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork gathers momentum, it’s critical that all stakeholders maintain focus on outcomes which reflect our objectives of profiling and producing a pork product that is uniquely Australian, characterised as high integrity, welfare optimal, premium quality, safe and nutritious,” Dr Campbell said.