The Apple Blossom Festival Bar-B-Que Contest provides a good sample of St. Joseph’s local flavor. But the secret isn’t just in the sauce, it’s in the meat itself.

St. Joseph’s Triumph Foods will provide fresh pork loin for the pork loin contest in which all teams will compete. The company also will provide the pork butts for Saturday’s taster’s choice contest. Triumph also provided pork for last year’s event.

The fundraiser will help support Second Harvest Food Bank.

I’m interested in this because I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten Triumph pork before. Triumph’s meat is in stores, but it doesn’t carry a Triumph label due to a marketing agreement with Seaboard Foods. Seaboard then puts a different label on the package, like Daily’s or Prairie Fresh. I’ve seen these brands in stores, but I cannot be sure if the pork in my cart came from Triumph or another of Seaboard’s pork plants.

I’m sure Triumph pork tastes like the other brands in my fridge, but I still like having the opportunity to eat food from a local company. This weekend, I’ll get my chance and so will the rest of St. Joseph.