PORK FOUND HIGHEST ON THE HOG BY SURVEY OF U.S. EATING HABITS

PAMELA BLAMEY

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Americans eat more pork on a daily basis than any other kind of meat, especially during lunch, according to a new study.

According to the research, conducted by Yankelovich Partners for the National Pork Producers Council here, each day 66% of Americans aged 18 to 59 eat pork, compared with 57% eating beef and 49% consuming chicken.

Breakfast was the meal when most people chose to eat pork and, of those, out of available options, 65% picked bacon and 57% chose sausage. Thirty percent of Americans eat pork for lunch, while 24% eat beef and 23% eat chicken.

However, pork is still eaten less frequently than beef or chicken at dinner, the study found, although pork chops in particular are gaining in popularity.

Fifty-seven percent of participants said that chops came to mind first when they considered pork, broken down into 41% who think of bone-in chops and 16% who think boneless. Eight percent think of pork roast first.

NPPC claimed the project, called the 1995 Meat Segmentation Study, is the largest to be undertaken by the meat industry in the last 10 years.