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People who need to be recertified as Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus® Advisors under the National Pork Board's PQA Plus® program are invited to attend a session set for April 19 in Ames. The Iowa Pork Industry Center (IPIC) at Iowa State University (ISU) is hosting the morning session which will run concurrently with an initial PQA Plus® certification session.
James McKean, IPIC associate director and ISU Extension swine veterinarian, said the session will be taught by ISU animal science and veterinary medicine faculty members who are certified PQA Plus® trainers.
“The session is limited to the first 30 participants who preregister and pay the recertification fee of $50 per person,” McKean said. “Preregistration is strongly encouraged to ensure the materials will be available for each participant, so no walk-ins will be accepted.”
Scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, with registration at 8:30 a.m., the session will be held at the Ensminger Room in Kildee Hall on the ISU campus. It will be filled on a first received, first accepted basis, so people should submit their preregistration and payment as soon as possible. The preregistration form is available online at www.ipic.iastate.edu/PQAPRecert041912.docx It also is available by fax by calling IPIC at 515-294-4103.
PQA Plus® was developed by the Pork Industry Animal Care Coalition, to be a continuous improvement program. The coalition, made up of pork producers, packers/processors, restaurants and food retailers, dedicated itself to finding a food-industry solution that would give confidence to consumers that U.S. pork is produced in a way that respects animal well-being. PQA Plus® merges the food safety and animal well-being concepts of the original PQA program into three steps: individual certification through education, farm site assessment, and the opportunity for project verification that gives customer credibility. For more information on PQA Plus® contact the National Pork Board at 800-456-PORK or go to http://www.pork.org/certification/default.aspx
February 8, 2012 - Iowa Pork Industry Center
