Britain's pig food heritage is under threat

Of the animals bred for consumption, the pig is surely up there jostling for position as our favourite.

When it is tiny, it is unbelievably cute; when it is a bit older, it's really quite funny.

Pigs go "oink", which is up there with "moo" and "twit-twoo" as the best animal noises.

Oh, and they taste pretty damn good.

No hangover cure quite hits the mark like a bacon sandwich, roast pork is the excuse for eating great crackling, and the pint of ale was surely invented to make eating pork scratchings socially acceptable.

But for all the pleasure we pig-eaters gain from devouring everything from its nose to its tail, because of the way many of us shop, British pork farmers are enduring a period of unprecedented misery.

When I say "by the way we shop", I'm not talking about whether you hop round the aisles on one foot.

I'm referring to how much attention you pay to the labelling. Because the problem is, not enough of us are focusing on whether we are buying British produce.

The average British pig farmer loses £26 on every pig he sells.

This appalling state of affairs has come about because feed prices have rocketed while pork prices have fallen.

Following last year's foot-and-mouth outbreak, export markets have weakened and not enough of us are supporting our pig farmers by buying their products.

And that's why I'm launching a campaign that I hope will help to do something about it.

It's called Save Our Bacon and is the brainchild of the food magazine I edit.

Our campaign is being supported by hundreds of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers and industry bodies.

But, you may ask, why does this bother me? Shopping for food these days seems to be getting harder and harder.