UNITED KINGDOM-BUY BRITISH PORK.
How much time do you spend in the supermarket thinking about the products you’re buying? Short of time, busy with the kids, trying to save cash and cut corners, it’s easy to head straight for the cheapest options. But if you watched Jamie Oliver’s TV programme Jamie Saves Our Bacon, you might want to spend a little bit more time looking at the labels of the pork products you buy.
Pork is the second biggest meat purchased in the UK and popular pork products include bacon, sausages, ham, pies, gammon and Scotch eggs. But did you realise most of our pork products come from other European countries where many pigs are reared inhumanely and the level of importing is putting our British farmers out of business? Here’s what we can do to change the situation:
Why should we buy British?
The first reason to buy British is animal welfare..
European pigs: In most European countries pigs are reared in contraptions called sow stalls. This is an intensive-farming method for mass-producing pigs. They are kept in tiny stalls so small they can’t turn around, they can only stand up and lie down and they have to go to the toilet in the same area they sleep.
British pigs: British pork farmers produce pigs to a very high welfare standard compared to other European producers. Sow stalls are illegal in the UK. However, around 70% of pork products sold in Britain have been farmed in a way that is illegal here.
Support British farmers:
Because European farmers mass produce their pig products, British farmers can’t compete on price, so they’re going out of business. Our breeding herd has halved in the UK.
Is it more expensive to buy British?
Yes, it is, because it costs more to rear pigs to higher welfare standards.
But how can I save money and still support British pork farmers and help improve welfare standards?
Buy cheaper cuts of meat, like belly, shoulder and neck fillet steak.
What should we look out for to make sure we know what we’re buying?
Look for the following labels:
Assured Food Standards - Red Tractor has a special scheme called Assured British Pigs which checks farms annually to ensure high standards of animal welfare are met.
Quality Pork Standard - When this mark has the Union Jack on it, it means the pork is British and the farm that produced it has had to meet UK welfare standards.
Freedom Food RSPCA monitored - This logo means the animals have been reared on British farms inspected and approved by the RSPCA.
British pork recipes
Pork shoulder
Roasted spiced pork shoulder
Pork belly
Triple pork casserole
Pork and pepper goulash
Scotch egg recipe
Paul Merrett’s Scotch egg with grainy mustard mayo
Pork pie recipe
Woman’s Weekly’s pork pie
More pork recipes
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Sausage recipes
Ham recipes
Gammon recipes
Pork recipe collections
More than 250 pork recipes
