Perdue's Latest Pork Snack Boasts A Southern Flair

If we say "Perdue," what's the first word that comes to mind? If it's chicken, that's to be expected since Perdue Farms began forging its path in the poultry business in 1920 with its investment in what it describes as "best available breeding stock" of chickens and its "commitment to quality" in the way it raises those chickens (via Perdue Farms website). Among other things, Perdue's chickens are 100% antibiotics-free (via The New York Times) and "100% veggie fed with no animal by-products (via Perdue Chicken). But chicken is definitely NOT the whole story when it comes to what Perdue has been doing over the last 102 years, and more specifically, over the last 11. 

Specifically, in 2011, Perdue took the unprecedented step of acquiring Coleman Natural Foods, thus expanding its position into pork and beef. And when we say "unprecedented," we mean that this acquisition represented the company's first foray into pork and beef since Arthur Perdue started the company in 1920. Perdue has now been in the pork business for over a decade, and today, we are seeing one of the ways that expansion has unfolded. According to a company press release that was sent to Mashed, Perdue Farms is aiming to bring Southern flair to dining tables with its new BBQ Seasoned Pulled Pork Bites. 

Perdue's new BBQ Seasoned Pulled Pork Bites riffs on a fan favorite, i.e., BBQ seasoned pulled pork, by "hand-pulling" Perdue's high quality, small-farm-sourced pork (think: no antibiotics, no hormones, no steroids in these hogs) and smothering it in a tangy barbecue sauce before enveloping it in a crisp breading and "maillarding" it, per Perdue Farms. The result? Well, it's kind of like a classic Southern pulled pork sandwich, only fun-size! And did we mention there's cheese in these?

Well, indeed there is. The pulled pork on the inside of these snack-sized bites is flavored not only with BBQ sauce but also sharp cheddar cheese. And while these babies certainly appear to have been fried, it just isn't so at all. According to Perdue Farms, once breaded, these bite-sized morsels are "oven-baked to crispy perfection." There is one catch, however, which is that this is a limited edition offering from Perdue – consisting of 500 1.37-ounce bags of these bites (for the price of $19.99). In other words, when those are gone, there may be no more.