Quality Hungarian Pork trademark introduced

The Ministry for Rural Development and the Livestock and Meat Interprofessional Organisation and Marketing Board (VHT) introduced the Quality Hungarian Pork (KMS) trademark and quality assurance system. VHT president Antal Németh, made it clear at the press conference what qualifies as Quality Hungarian Pork: the meat of pig bred in Hungary, fed with GMO-free corn and other cereal-based feed certified in the EU; the share of non-vegetable origin ingredients must be below 5 percent in the feed.

Pork breeders, meat industry firms and trading companies can apply for using the trademark free of charge if they have an EU registration number, have been operational for more than 2 years and are members of a trade organisation. The KMS Trademark Certification System is based on strict audits performed across the whole pig product path, examining product quality, and the food safety, traceability, animal wellness, feeding, hygienic and technology conditions of production. It is very important that acquiring the certification isn’t enough, the required quality level has to be kept up and improved – KMS auditors are going to control this. Deputy state secretary Dr Zsolt Feldman added that establishing the trademark forms part of a complex sector strategy, which includes doubling the pig stock by 2020, supporting quality domestic products and increasing the market share of Hungarian pork products. Finally Ipsos research director Péter Kunos introduced the results of their 600-people representative survey: 63 percent of consumers are consciously looking for products with a trademark and they would be willing to pay 8 percent more from them.