The index was developed by the National Pork Producers Council, an industry trade group.
In 1990, approximately 25 percent of U.S. market hogs were purchased on a carcass merit system that differentiated price based on lean content.
The differentials varied, and there was a scarcity of data to indicate whether the price spread was sufficient between good and poor quality pigs.
[1] A checkoff-funded task force in 1990 recommended that procedures be established to determine value of pigs based on pounds of quality lean in the carcass.
The original FFLI equations were based on carcass separation data collected in university trials from 1970 to 1985 from pigs weighing between 200 and 250 lb.