Educational Seminars Focus on Increasing Pork Consumption in Guatemalan Restaurants

While a majority of the pork currently imported by Guatemala comes from the Unites States, pork consumption per capita in the country remains relatively low. Recognizing this as an opportunity, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has been working with importers, retailers, restaurants and foodservice companies to increase awareness of the variety of U.S. pork cuts available to the market.

Gerardo Rodriguez, USMEF marketing director for Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, says the effort includes a series of workshops to educate restaurant managers and chefs about alternative U.S. pork cuts and training sessions on proper cooking methods for pork. The goal, Rodriguez explains, is to encourage restaurants to feature more pork items on menus and attract more restaurant patrons to the taste of U.S. pork.

USMEF’s campaign also highlights U.S. pork ribs, picnics, Boston butts and hams as alternatives to pork chops, by far the most popular pork cut in Guatemala and the Central America region.


TRANSCRIPT:

Ralph Loos: The U.S. Meat Export Federation recently conducted an educational seminar for restaurant managers and chefs in Guatemala. In this USMEF report, Gerardo Rodriguez, marketing director in Central America, explains why the program included a strong focus on U.S. pork.

Gerardo Rodriguez: The foodservice industry in Guatemala has been growing a lot, so this has been the perfect way for us to work with our current importer clients and try to explore the alternatives and to expand the number of dishes that are being sold in the market. We went to the restaurants’ staff and we trained them on the ay pork has to be cooked, because there is a lack of information about pork, which they think that they need to overcook pork, so we had to go there and train them and explain about the best way of serving pork.

Ralph Loos: Another topic being addressed by USMEF in Guatemala is the availability of a variety of U.S. pork cuts.

Gerardo Rodriguez: In Guatemala, and in most countries in Central America, the main product of pork is pork chops. There are many other options and many other alternatives that we can promote pork among the foodservice industry. So we have to train first the importers, and then get the people who are in charge of selling these cuts in the foodservice industry more knowledgeable so they will try to encourage their customers to buy from the options available to them. We are trying to develop new ways of eating ribs, especially with different sauce. Also the picnic, also the Boston butt that has been used for tacos. Even milanesa, a dish using a thin-sliced meat coming from hams. These are some of the examples that we have been working with.

Ralph Loos: For more information, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Ralph Loos.