Of the 63 medals awarded in all categories up for judging, 50 were from Australian PorkMark licensees. The 36 sub-categories in the Fresh Sausage and Smallgoods award category included cured meats, salamis, ham, bacon, pates, terrines, fresh and cooked sausages, cooked meat products and mortadella.

The Australian PorkMark programme currently has 360 licensees and as a participant they earn the right to display the hot pink Australian PorkMark on the packaging of Australian grown ham, bacon and smallgoods products. The PorkMark is a guarantee to consumers that the product in the pack is Australian grown pork.

The RMFFA, organised by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, is open to all butchers and smallgoods manufacturers nationally. It recognises and rewards premium fine food producers from across Australia.

Winning a medal at the RMFFA is seal of excellence which serves as a guarantee of quality for consumers, and medals on award winning products are a valuable marketing tool for winners.

Entrants to the RMFFA will be presented with their medals at a gala lunch function during the 2012 Royal Melbourne Show on 25 September.

APL PorkMark Manager, Martin Carr, said: “It is gratifying to see that Australian butchers and smallgoods manufacturers are producing such an array of specialty products made from Australian pork with such high quality and taste appeal.“

Currently over 65 per cent of the ham, bacon and small-goods products consumed in Australia is made from imported pork. Under the current labelling system in this country it is impossible for consumers to differentiate between what’s imported and what’s Australian grown in retail deli cabinets. All they have to go on is three ambiguous labels; 'Product of Australia', 'Made in Australia' and 'Made from Local and Imported Ingredients'. In reality, the real differentiator comes down to price and of course the highly subsidised, cheaper imported pork is going to win out every time.