Over the past few years the public impression of the hog industry has been improving. The most important issue for consumers is the environmental impact on large-scale swine facilities and they see the industry as being harder on the environment than other agricultural areas. The safety of Canadian pork has a very positive reputation. Animal welfare is surprisingly not a big issue as most of the public feel that the pigs are treated humanely. The fact that the public learns what they know about the industry through media is poor, as images can be distorted this way.