According to new data from Spanish pork body Interprofesional del Porcino de Capa Blanca (Interporc), the consumption of fresh pork in Spanish households grew by 0.8% year-on-year in 2018, while frozen pork consumption rose 6.9%.
This led to the overall consumption of pork products increasing 2.7%, with a significant rise reported in products such as bacon and lard (+8.3%) and cured loin (+7.6%). Other categories that saw growth were cured hams and shoulders, up 5.4%, and sausage-style products fuet (a Catalan thin, dry-cured sausage) and longanizas (a sausage similar to chorizo), which rose by more than 2%.
Currently, pigmeat products represent 43% of the total meat consumed by the Spanish population. Interporc believes its popularity stems from the wide variety of products available in the domestic market, as well as how all the various different styles of pork are marketed to consumers.
Interporc recently launched a new pork welfare scheme, designed to endorse best practice within the industry. Interporc director Alberto Herranz said the scheme would focus on animal welfare and biosecurity, and help “position Spain as a benchmark” for pork quality.