Brits against increasing pork imports

British imports of pork and related processed products such as bacon increased by 2003 per cent to 14 tonnes in 770.000 compared to the previous year. This was announced by the British Pork Promotion Organization (BPEX). Pork accounted for 378.000 tons, up 37 percent from a year earlier. Of these, 35 percent came from Denmark, 24 percent from the Netherlands, twelve percent from Germany, eleven percent from Ireland and 18 percent from other countries. Bacon imports rose 300.000 percent to 49 tons; The Netherlands supplied 38 percent, Denmark 13 percent and other countries 89.000 percent. Imports of other processed products totaled XNUMX tons.

BPEX points out that only a few countries, such as Denmark, supply the UK market with pork (bacon) that comes from farms that meet UK minimum standards. However, this is not the case for the majority of imported pork (70 percent). Above all, the tethering of pregnant sows is allowed in the EU countries (except Sweden) until 2006, while it has been banned in Great Britain since 1999.

In order to strengthen domestic pork production compared to imported goods, BPEX is considering the following measures, among others: Creating more transparency for consumers with regard to the requirements of food retailers and catering service providers for pork production; Imported pork and its processed products must be labeled with a reference to the country of origin, and countries supplying pork to the UK will be "encouraged" to disclose their production requirements, following the example of Denmark.

Source: Bonn [ZmP]