UK pig producers have warned that around 40% of pork products imported from the European Union are illegal, following yesterday’s (1 January) introduction of new EU welfare regulations that ban the use of stalls in pig rearing.
According to the UK’s National Pig Association (NPA), stalls have not been used by the UK pig industry for “many years”. However, figures released by the EU last month suggested around 80% of European countries had failed to comply with the ban.
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The NPA claimed around 40,000 pigs an hour will be delivered to continental processing plants from farms that break the welfare regulation.
The NPA urged shoppers to buy products carrying the UK’s Red Tractor logo. The industry association also called on the EU to begin enforcing its welfare standards.
NPA chairman Richard Longthorp commented: “We have been pressuring Brussels for more than a year to take measures to protect European consumers from illegally produced pigmeat. Its stock response has always been that it could do nothing until January 1, 2013. Well that date is now upon us and it needs to act urgently to have any chance of keeping its integrity intact.”
