CIWF unlikely link-up
CIWF unlikely link-up
IN an alliance that would have been unheard of before the current pig industry crisis, animal welfare group, Compassion in World Farming, teamed up with British pig farmers on Tuesday to protest against the increasing quantity of imported pigmeat produced from sows in stall and tether systems.
CIWF took a lifelike sow caged in a metal-barred stall to the French, Danish, Dutch and Irish embassies in London, before moving on to the British Retail Consortium, which represents British supermarkets. There they were joined by about 30 British Pig Industry Support Group members with a live sow in a stall to illustrate the cruelty of the system, which was banned in the UK from Jan 1999. Britains pig industry faces collapse partly because of the actions of some supermarkets, according to CIWF, which handed in a letter to the BRC.
"We call on supermarkets to support Britains newly raised welfare standards for pigs by refusing to stock cruelly produced continental pigmeat. We are also urging the rest of Europe to follow Britains lead in banning stall and tether cages," said CIWF campaigns director Philip Lymbery.
With pig industry action against retailers showing no sign of letting up, Mike Roper, the MAFF official appointed recently to check on supermarket claims about the country of origin and methods of production associated with its pigmeat, has been talking to some of the key importers. He has also spoken to the Dutch Meat Board and the Danish Meat and Bacon Council. *