UK animal welfare standards 'must not be lowered' in pursuit of new trade deals, pig industry says

National Pig Association has vowed to protect post-Brexit UK welfare standards
National Pig Association has vowed to protect post-Brexit UK welfare standards

The National Pig Association (NPA) has insisted the UK’s high animal welfare standards must not be lowered in pursuit of new trade deals and a post-Brexit cheap food agenda.

As Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 yesterday (29 March), the NPA is calling for steps to protect pig producers and consumers, including equivalent standards for meat imports and, if necessary, tariffs and quotas where standards fall short.

The association also wants to see strict labelling laws put in place to provide clarity for consumers over differences in production standards.

The UK pig industry exported more than 206,000 tonnes of pigmeat, worth £252 million, in 2017, nearly 60% of which went to or via the EU.

'Absolutely vital'

NPA chairman Richard Lister said: “A free trade deal with the EU is absolutely vital for the pig sector. Tariffs on pork exports, for example, of 45p/kg on carcases or 131p/kg for processed hams, would cripple our export trade, slash profitability and export production overseas, particularly if equivalent tariffs were not levied on imports into the UK.

“If we leave without a trade deal, sensible transitional arrangements must be put in place.”

A great concern among farmers is the prospect of new trade deals that would expose UK consumers and producers to cheaper pork imports from the likes of the US, Canada and Brazil, where health and welfare standards are often considerably lower than the UK's.

The recent Brazilian meat scandal has highlighted the dangers in any potential new trade deals.

Mr Lister continued: “We don’t want imported meat produced to lower hygiene, welfare and traceability standards posing a threat to consumers and undercutting UK producers. We don’t want pork from the US, for example, from pigs reared using the growth promoter ractopamine or from sows reared in stall systems outlawed in the UK since the late-1990s.”