The next time you see "porterhouse" on a menu, it might not be beef you're ordering — it could be pork.
According to NPR's The Salt, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the National Pork Board are unifying the names of meat cuts in an effort to boost the struggling pork industry.
The new names will features a cut identifier (i.e. Sirloin Tip, T-bone, Tenderloin, or Porterhouse) and a cut form (Steak, Roast, Chop, or Filet), while the labels in-store will specify the type of meat, bone state (bone in or boneless), and the best way to cook it.
"Names have the unique ability to forge an identity," Pork Retail explains on its website to vendors. "And you are about to discover the power of a name to re-define pork’s image in the meat case, just in time for grilling season."
The effort to change the names are an industry-wide effort know as the Uniform Retail Meat Identity Standards Program that since 1973 has been standardizing what different cuts of meat are called commercially.
The new pork monikers have been in the works since 2011 when the pork industry found focus groups were confused by what the difference was between the types of pork chops.
The change is not mandatory, but merely a suggestion for retailers and packers to increase sales. The Uniform Retail Meat Identity Standards Program expects to see the new names in stores as soon as this summer.
