The Iowa Pork Producers Association’s new Pork in the Pantry program provided more than 50,000 meals for underprivileged Iowans over the past few months. Forty county pork producer organizations worked with the state association to donate pork to local food pantries. The Iowa Pork Producers Association matched up to $1,000 for each county, totaling nearly $40,000 statewide.
Food pantries are frequently short of meat products, so this was a great way to get nutritious protein into the diets of food-insecure Iowans.
The pork donations included bacon, brats, chops, ground pork, hams, loins, roasts, sausage, and tenderloins, as well as convenience meals like precooked deli ham. Many groups purchased the pork from area meat lockers and grocery stores, helping to keep the dollars in their local communities.
