Ban pork imports from farms flouting stall ban, says NPA

Seven months after the European Union introduced a ban on keeping sows in stalls (except for the first four weeks of pregnancy) half of European Union countries have failed to clamp down on pig farms where sows are illegally confined.

The National Pig Association said retailers and manufacturers should continue 'to be vigilant' and argued consumers expected all imported pork to be traceable to farms complying with the EU's January ban.

According to new data from the European Commission only 13 member countries are fully compliant — Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Sow stalls have been banned outright in the United Kingdom since 1999.

The Commission started infringement proceedings against nine countries in February — Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Portugal. The Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Finland, and Slovenia are still being investigated.

NPA has been praised by Government for its “Wall of Fame” campaign to persuade retailers and food companies to pledge they will not import pork and pork products from non-compliant pig farms on the continent.

One hundred leading companies and brands have pledged total traceability for the imported pork and pork products they sell, including most major retailers and leading foodservice companies such as McDonald’s, Costa, and Premier Inn.

“Sow stalls are narrow cages. They make life easier for pig farmers, but they are medieval in the eyes of British consumers because the sows spend most of their lives being able to do little more than stand up and lie down,” said NPA general manager Dr Zoe Davies. "The response to our campaign for traceable higher-welfare pork for British consumers has been outstanding — far better than we ever envisaged."

At the beginning of the year, estimates said 40,000 pigs an hour were being delivered to continental processing plants from illegally-operated pig farms. As Britain imports around 60 percent of its processed pork it was feared that many British consumers were unwittingly supporting the trade in illegally-farmed pigs.