A new survey has found the majority of shoppers want supermarkets to sell pork from British farms, despite an increase in cheap foreign pork caused by turmoil in Ukraine.
The YouGov research, released by the National Pig Association (NPA), revealed that 81% of shoppers who buy meat want supermarkets to continue stocking a high level of British meat to maintain consumer confidence following the 2013 horsegate scandal.
Since August 2014, when Russia imposed an embargo on European Union meat in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine, there has been a glut of pork on the continent. However, 65% of shoppers believe that importing more European pork not produced under food assurance schemes like Red Tractor could increase the risk of another horsegate style scandal.
Only 19% of shoppers want more cheaper European pork imports to keep down prices.
“The quality and taste of domestic pork and pork products is underpinned by the high welfare methods of British pig farms,” NPA chief executive Dr Zoe Davies said. “Nearly half our pigs spend some of their lives outdoors, over 90 percent are covered by the independently-audited Red Tractor quality assurance scheme and almost a third are also inspected by RSPCA for its Freedom Food animal welfare label.
“This YouGov research shows shoppers are in no doubt that supermarket commitments following horsegate to source more British meat have played an important role in restoring confidence in the meat on supermarket shelves.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
