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.

"I am so proud of the way county pork producer organizations stepped up and delivered for Iowans in a time of need," said IPPA President Trish Cook, a pig farmer from Winthrop. "Our first year for the Pork in the Pantry program exceeded our expectations, and we helped a lot of food-insecure Iowans with delicious and nutritious meals. Pork producers care about this state and its people, and this is just one way for us to show we care."

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.  

"Iowa's pork producers are amazing," said Joyce Hoppes, IPPA's consumer information director. "Their support of the Pork in the Pantry program shows their commitment to making their communities better and enriching the lives of the food-insecure with some delicious and nutritious, high-quality protein meals." 

Counties participating in Pork in the Pantry this year include: Adair, Adams, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cass, Cedar, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Clay, Clayton, Delaware, Des Moines, Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Henry, Howard, Ida, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Kossuth, Lyon, Madison, Marshall, O'Brien, Page, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Poweshiek, Ringgold, Sac, Sioux Story, Taylor, Washington, Webster and Winneshiek.