£1m adverts target pork imports

THE BRITISH Pig Executive has launched a £1m advertising campaign for British pork that looks like starting a bacon war with the Netherlands and Denmark.

The Times reports that the advertising campaign highlights the differences in animal welfare standards between the UK and its closest rivals in pork production.

The campaign centres on the use of stalls and tethers, a practice banned in the UK in 1999, and the routine practice of castration of piglets without anaesthetic.

Posters feature two identical-looking pork joints placed side-by-side with the slogan: “They may look the same, pity they weren‘t treated the same.”

The poster also informs consumers that: “Two thirds of imported pork comes from farms that operate welfare practices that would be illegal in the UK.” 

The Times reports that Dutch and Danish officials are furious about the use of such tactics and are planning to lodge a complaint with the Advertising Standards Agency.

But the British Pig Executive insists that it has every right to inform consumers of the lower welfare standards used in Europe in order to encourage them to buy British.