[witchieblackcat]

Looks like the bacon sarnie could be in trouble BBC Food - Will we be buying bacon and pork sausages next year?

 

[craig107]

A nation of pork producers and eaters,,,,,,,
Yet we import over 60%. Go figure.

 

[witchieblackcat]

We eat more than we produce?

 

[Tim Digger]

To say nothing of the possible effects on farmers trying to produce cheap meat and cutting corners. Where did that foot and mouth epidemic come from??
Tim Digger

 

[craig107]

What?, bacon butties.

 

[craig107]

Where did that foot and mouth epidemic come from??
Tim Digger

Normandy.....Alledgedly

 

[N2-UK]

I'd agree there's too much cheap rubbish around. We buy local produced "Packington" pork & their traditionally cured bacon. Great stuff but costs a bit more.
Our solution. Eat a bit less ( there's no need to pig out fnar-fnar). Support the local producer and your supply will always be there.

BTW: I visited a farm yesterday to discover that they've now stopped growing veg 'cos there's no money in it. Cheap (normally lower quality) imports & the harsh pricing of the supermarkets have killed the domestic market. Apparently last year, the dutch were sending their surplus onions over here to sell for nothing but the cost of the transport. Why? because they'd got a glut & would be charged for disposing of excess in landfill. It made it impossible for our farmers.

 

[monkey_cat]

Sadly this is non-news. Over the past few years grain prices have been so high that pigs eat more than they sell for (in monetary terms). Any British pig farmer making money is doing well. UK laws quite rightly dictate high welfare standard for pigs, with lower stocking densities than the rest of the EU. This means that a British pig farmer can keep fewer pigs in the same space, so has to sell for higher prices in order to make ends meet.

You only need to google 'Spanish pig farms' to see YouTube clips of where our cheap bacon comes from. British pork is more expensive, and for a very good reason. Having worked on pig farms, I only ever buy British pork. Can't afford it? Then I go without that week. I've worked at Packington Pork and those piggies are kept in great conditions. Unlike many pigs that never even see daylight, and cannot even turn around in their sow crates, Packington pigs are kept in a paddock. They can run around, interact with other pigs, snuffle in the dirt and wallow in mud. Yes it comes at a higher price, but it worth it IMO.

We need to ask ourselves about the price of meat: pay the price for high welfare meat raised in our own economy, or cheap meat with depressed pigs paying the price?

As with te dairy industry, the pig industry is on its knees, prices dictated by the large supermarkets who effectively hold te farmers to ransom, in a culture that is so removed from where our food comes from that many children don't associate milk with cows or eggs with chickens. This enables to media to portray farmers as money grabbing bastards when in reality they don't have two pennies to rub together.