Anyone who’s ever tried to sell something to a U.S. pork producer knows you need data to support your recommendation. Producers need reliable information to support their investments.
The same goes for convincing consumers to choose pork, says Kristen Hicks Roof, National Pork Board (NPB) senior director of human nutrition. Hicks Roof oversees NPB’s investment in human nutrition research, as well as how that information is communicated to stakeholder groups including packers, processors, retailers, health professionals and consumers.
Combatting Misinformation With Evidence-Based Research
“In my day-to-day conversations with consumers, a lot of the job is combating misinformation,” says Hicks Roof. “The only way we can do that is having the data to support why the information we’re sharing is valid.”
NPB invests in research to demonstrate the nutritional benefits of pork. The results are compiled to be relevant for multiple audiences and shared with state pork boards who have the closest connection to consumers in their communities. At the consumer level, the data might be shared through a simple statement about pork being a heart-healthy choice or how pork is safe when cooked to 145 degrees.
“People might think pork is not great for their health and lifestyle, so we have research on pork nutrition in relation to diabetes, hypertension and cognition,” Hicks Roof says. “We look at nutrition for human growth and development from childhood all the way to aging.”
Pork as a Flavor Driver for Balanced Meals
In addition to nutritional value, consumers need to remember how great pork tastes and the many ways it can be prepared so they continue to buy it. Those concepts are the foundation of NPB’s Taste What Pork Can Do campaign, which was launched in 2025.
To make pork relevant to the variety of consumer preferences, the national and state boards often talk about pork as part of a recipe or meal as opposed to talking about it on its own.
“We’re talking a lot about pork and plants, especially when we’re talking to health professionals who then trickle the information down to consumers,” Hicks Roof says. “It’s not about pushing pork. It’s about how you make pork a flavor driver to get people to eat more fruits and vegetables. That’s what the data says, and that’s a lot of how we communicate it out. It resonates really well with our audiences.”
Empowering Health Professionals to Influence Consumers
The data-driven message for consumers might be as simple as describing pork as a heart-healthy choice or as nutritious for people in any life stage.
“We continue to show consumers how their diet can be nutritious by simply shopping at their local retailers and which cuts they could use to make a balanced meal for their families,” says Katelyn Fessler, Pennsylvania Pork Producers Council communications specialist.
Other audiences such as health professionals and dieticians require more details. One of Fessler’s favorite recent examples of how information flows from NPB to state pork boards and on to consumers was an event the Pennsylvania council hosted for dieticians who work for retail chains. The workshop gave dieticians the opportunity to handle pork, prepare it, learn about its nutritional value and how flavor and nutrition work together to benefit consumers through the pork products retailers already are selling, Fessler says.
Equipping health and wellness professionals such as dieticians with accurate information about pork gives them confidence in the recommendations they make to patients and clients and ensures pork gets included in those recommendations.
“They touch so many people across the five retail chains that they work for,” she says.
Bridging the Gap Between the Farm and the Plate
After the workshop, participants said they realized they had blind spots and gaps in their knowledge of pork nutrition and how it fits in among all the nutritional options at the grocery store, says Fessler.
“Afterwards, one of the dieticians told us that she feels more confident not only to cook pork herself, but also to then go out and tell her consumers about it,” Fessler says. “I feel like that was a huge win for the research that NPB invested in that was then passed on through our state board to local dieticians and then to our consumers.”
Amber Portner is a Minnesota pork producer and a member of the NPB Human Nutrition Advisory Committee. The committee gives input on the research NPB selects and how the information is shared to drive pork sales. In addition to being a lifelong pork producer, Portner is an advocate for the role of food and nutrition in a person’s health and wellness.
Sharing that insight with consumers, retailers and health professionals is how she supports the strength and success of the pork industry, she said.
“As producers, we want to sell as much pork as possible,” Portner says. “As a society, we have a strong need for high-valuable nutrition. There’s a better bridge right now than I’ve ever seen between pork production and what consumers want. And so I think from a producer standpoint, I really take it as a great opportunity to advocate as a producer with a wellness lens.”
