Net Protein Contribution: demonstrating Australian pork's value

 This project set out to calculate the net protein contribution of Australian pork across seven intensive commercial piggeries, to better understand the industry’s contribution to human nutrition. 

This project evaluated the quantity and quality of protein inputs and outputs across seven commercial systems and found that all farms were net contributors to the human food supply, with NPC values ranging from 1.52 to 5.63. This means that pigs play an important role in converting lower-quality and often human-inedible feed ingredients into high-quality pork protein.  

This project provides strong, science-backed evidence that piggeries are net contributors to human nutrition. The findings help to address the ‘feed-versus-food’ debate and highlight the value of using by-products and other human-inedible feed resources to produce high-quality pork.