By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Should they be called Buckeyes, or maybe “Porkeyes?”

Most snack vending machines offer chips, candy bars or crackers. One on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus is stocked with donated, ready-to-eat Smithville, Hormel and Sugardale bacon products.

Courtesy of the Ohio Pork Council (OPC), bacon bits and strips were sold from Dec. 4-13 for just $1. The machine was located in the Animal Sciences building at the school’s College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. Profits from the vending machine benefited the meat science program at OSU.

Meghann Winters, an ad communications student and communications coordinator with the OPC, recalled the day when the concept came to fruition.

“We had a crazy idea in the office one day and we were trying to figure out a new way to promote pork products in Ohio,” she said. “Somehow we came up with the idea for a bacon vending machine. We decided to reach out to Dr. Lyda Garcia of the OSU meat science program to help implement this project.”

Winters and the OPC elicited the help of students on campus, who agreed to help stock the pork products.

“We feel fortunate to work at the ground level of this project for the OPC,” said Sarah Page, a senior in the meat science program. “We help stock the machines, and we’re using this as a fundraiser along with an outreach effort to reach other students and let them know where pork comes from.”

Within the first seven days the machine had to be restocked several times. According to Winters, restocking the machine was quite a chore as word got out about its unusual contents. The tasty bacon treats also attracted students from other disciplines at the college.

“We’re also doing this to bring awareness to the animal and meat sciences program at OSU,” said Jake Parkinson, a senior in that program. “A lot of students don’t know a lot about meat science, so we do some outreach programs and invite students into the animal science building so they can get a better picture of what we do.”

“The bacon vending machine is a unique and fun way for the OPC to support OSU students and promote the pork industry at the same time,” said Dave Shoup, OPC’s president-elect.

The new vending contents were installed for 11 days leading up to finals at OSU. Animal science officials are contemplating the idea of continuing with the sale of the pork products due to the popularity and attention the bacon products have attracted.

Emily Bir, director of communications for the OPC, hopes this initiative will spread to other states.