Patchy store policy on stall-and-tether
Patchy store policy on stall-and-tether
IMPORTED pigmeat produced using stall-and-tether systems – now banned in Britain – is still widely available on supermarket shelves, according to a survey by farm animal welfare group, Compassion In World Farming.
The survey of 11 big companies found a number of retailers do not have a policy of selling only stall-and-tether-free pigmeat for some or all of their branded pigmeat.
CIWF is concerned that some supermarkets are operating patchy policies on animal welfare standards, which cover some types of pigmeat but not others.
All too often this leads to imported pigmeat that has been produced in ways that would be illegal in this country, being sold in Britains supermarkets, said CIWF. "A gaping hole remains in the policies of some supermarkets through which we fear imported pigmeat produced using the extremely cruel sow stall-and-tether systems could well be offered for sale widely in the UK," said Philip Lymbery, CIWF campaigns director.
"CIWF urges all retailers to support Britains newly raised welfare standards by ensuring that pigmeat produced using Continental stalls or tethers has no place on the supermarket shelves of our nation," he said.
Of the supermarkets surveyed only Iceland and Marks and Spencer were able to claim that stall-and-tether-free meat was sourced for all of the pigmeat products they sold. *