Industry hails Jamie Oliver pig appeal

Following his show 'Jamie Saves Our Bacon' last week, the industry praised his efforts to highlight the problems faced by UK pig producers.

Ahead of the show, the National Pig Association said it could ' have a significant, and enduring, impact on demand for British pigs.'

Meanwhile, NFU Scotland moved to congratulate Mr Oliver for highlighting the good welfare conditions of UK pork production as well as the confusing labelling used in many supermarkets.

NFUS public relations manager Anna Davies said: “NFU Scotland has been working to encourage people to buy Scottish food and drink for a number of years but it’s great to see these celebrity chefs fighting our corner too.

"Our farmers do a huge amount, not just in terms of maintaining high animal welfare standards but also in terms of maintaining our countryside.

"Jamie also really attacked the labelling question. He proved what we have known for a long time – that supermarket labels are often very unclear and that people find it hard to identify the country of origin of the bacon and pork that they are buying.”

Following the shows, Defra said it was seeking a meeting with the industry to discuss the problems facing the sector and to explore further ways to support producers.

Last week, Hilary Benn and farming Minister Jane Kennedy met with supermarkets to discuss labelling, where they called for a new voluntary labelling system to be introduced to provide consumers with more clarity when it comes to buying British.

New rules on country of origin labelling are currently making their way through Europe, but a Defra spokesperson said no legislation was exepected until 2010 at the earliest.

In the meantime, Ministers are keen to impress on supermarkets the growing need to act on misleading labelling to prepare for any future changes to the rules and to ensure transparency for consumers.

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