GM-free pork wanted – if you can get the feed

By Peter Crichton

THE GM in soya issue will continue to pose a challenge to UK pig meat producers in the months ahead.

There are signs that a number of the major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury and Safeway will be looking to source significant quantities of GM-free fresh pork through their stores.

At this stage it is not clear whether the market will be able to deliver enough of the GM-free product, and to what extent the big retailers will insist on GM-free pork throughout their product range.

There will however be opportunities for those producers who can source GM-free soya and other feed ingredients to consider exploiting a niche in the market, once it has been established how much consumer demand will be affected by this issue.

UK pigmeat producers have pointed out that discrimination of this type will be unfair as far as their industry is concerned, especially if this does not include poultry and other similar meat products.

Although the retailers may concentrate on their push for non GM fresh meat, according to feed compounders there is simply not enough non GM soya to go round.

According to feed trade sources it would be next to impossible to remove GM from all livestock products and we could end up with more of a “non-GM” display section in each supermarket, similar to the organic labelled areas.

• Peter Crichton is a Suffolk-based pig farmer offering independent valuation and consultancy services to the UK pig industry