Urgent action: Sign the above petition in opposition to the planned 2,500 sow unit (holding around 20,000 piglets) in Foston, Derbyshire. Deadline TODAY 30th June.
Revealed: How ‘zero-grazing’ is set to bring US-style factory farming to Britain
25th June 2010
Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Intensive farming methods are still on the agenda within the pork industry and there still remain those such as Midland Pig Producers that intend to use these methods to rear pork for human consumption.
It saddens us to hear that they have put plans in motion for a 26,000 intensive pig farm on the outskirts of the village of Foston in Derbyshire.
We hope that you will join us in opposing this development – we don’t have much time 30th June 2010 to make a difference – please help.
The application is lodged with South Derbyshire District Council – further details are at the end of this post.
Issues that will be considered are environmental issues, waste concerns, pollution from construction, damage to the surrounding area, trees and plants, transport, human health – disease outbreaks/vermin, noise pollution, impact on the local wildlife and species from the development.
If you have seen Pig Business you will understand that many of these issues are often affected in a very detrimental way by intensive pig farming. We ask that you please offer your support by objecting to this application and spreading the word to other citizens in the UK.
For further information and on how to log your objection please follow this link
Please do act and many thanks from Pig Business.
Planning Application 9/2010/0311 – Foston pig farm
South Derbyshire District Council
Planning Services
Civic Offices
Civic Way
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE11 0AH
It’s time for some more tasty ideas from Dave our Gourmet Guy in Ireland. This time he’s written a guest blog to accompany his recipe for the perfect pork chop.. and if you like the sound of it, follow Dave on Twitter!
We’ve all done it, felt good about ourselves while strolling by the cheap, brutally reared chickens in the supermarket on the way to a celestially lit fridge housing the free range birds. Such is the level of chicken welfare one-upmanship that has gripped the nation that free range is no longer enough, nor is organic or corn fed for that matter. We want chickens that have lived wonferfully full lives, who enjoyed reading the great novels of our time, regular theatre visits, weekly pilates classes and a leisurely cycling holiday in the Swiss Alps before departing from this world in the best of care at the Dignitas Clinic.
We can then simply pick up some cheap pork from animals kept in such appalling conditions that there are battery hens having a bake sale to try and help.
The worst thing about cheap pork is it comes with an excuse. People claim they only know how to cook a loin or leg or another prime cut and can’t afford to buy those cuts from an ethically farmed animal. The fact is that if you can cook one part of an animal, you can cook the rest, or at least you will be able to once I am done with you. Thats what I want to do. Teach you that cheap cuts doesn’t mean cheap food. Far from it, I will show you that these cuts can in fact produce better tasting meals than the so called prime cuts.
If you can learn to create great meals from an animal that has enjoyed a good standard of life then everyone’s a winner. You dont have to engage in the sort of spending that would make Elton John wince to produce excellent meals that suit all tastes and culinary skill levels.
Just like with chickens it is the ground swell of public opinion that will change producers and retailers practices. People currently simply dont see livestock as endangered species but the fact is that it would be more morally correct to eat a panda burger than some of the rare breeds who’s numbers are dangerously close to extinction. Removing the pressure that farmers are under to produce meat to a very low price is the best means of helping these breeds recover.
So check out the recipe using some nice sholder chops from a happy go lucky free range pig and enjoy.
Pork Shoulder Chops in tomato sauce
What you will need
1 shoulder chop per person
2tbs of flour
2tsp of paprika
1tsp of chilli powder (mild or hot depending on taste)
1tsp of dried oregano
1 egg
½ glass of milk
1 large onion (roughly chopped)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 large green pepper (roughly chopped)
1 can of peeled chopped tomatoes
½ pint of chicken stock
½ glass of white wine
2tbs of red wine vinegar
1tbs of grain mustard.
Method
Mix together the flour, chilli powder, paprika and oregano on a plate with some salt and pepper. Whisk the egg and milk together in a bowl. Now dip the chops in the egg wash, drain off the excess and coat well with the flour mixture.
Now heat some oil in a frying pan, use one with a lid as you are going to need it. Brown the chops well on both sides, remove them from the pan and place them on a warm plate. Add the onions and garlic and cooked them for a few minutes before adding the peppers. Now add the chicken stock, wine, vinegar, tomatoes and grain mustar and stir well. Return the chops to the pan, cover with a lid and cook on a moderate heat for 40mins. Serve with rice or mash.
PIG BUSINESS PRESS STATEMENT
NEW PIG LABELLING SCHEME FAILS TO TELL THE STORY OF FACTORY FARMED PIGS.
Pig Business welcomes any initiative that seeks to give the public clear and honest information about how their food is produced, but we are disappointed that the new voluntary code of practice on pig meat labelling fails to include labelling for pork, which comes from intensive, indoor systems. The bulk of pork sold on Britain’s supermarket shelves still originates from factory farms and cheap pork continues to flood in from the EU and beyond where welfare standards are lower than in the UK.
The past few years has seen the British public show a much greater interest in learning about where the food they buy comes from and in what systems the animals have been reared. Information on product labelling concerning animal welfare is becoming of greater interest, so to introduce a product labelling scheme that ignores intensively produced pork is falling well short of what is expected from a scheme like this. Schemes such as Pork Provenance should be seeking to provide labelling information across the entire range of pork products so the public can make an informed choice for themselves about whether to buy a product or not.
While Pig Business supports British farmers, we also feel that consumers should know that a significant proportion of the pork produced in the UK comes from factory farms and until the Pork Provenance scheme covers all production methods we will not fully endorse the scheme.
Founder of Pig Business, The Marchioness of Worcester says: “The Pork Provenance labelling scheme has the potential to be a really important scheme but by only issuing product labelling for roughly 3 out of every 10 pigs that find themselves on Britain’s supermarket shelves, it’s fallen well short of what’s expected from a certification scheme. Consumers will be none the wiser when it comes to gleaning information on the method of production for factory farmed pork, but then it tends to be a highly secretive industry, which isn’t keen for prying public eyes to bear witness too”.
-ENDS-
For further information please contact the Pig Business team on Tel: 0207 5846 592.
Notes for Editors:
Pig Business is a film and a campaign which informs citizens, industry and policy makers about the needless damage and suffering that intensive agriculture inflicts on people, pigs and planet. We believe that the key to a sustainable farming future is to work with, not against nature; to strengthen the connection between people and their food; and to support local, small scale, independent democratic food systems with high welfare, low impact farming. www.pigbusiness.co.uk
The new voluntary code of practice for the labelling of pork and pork products has been launched today through www.porkprovenance.co.uk and is overseen by BPEX as part of a Pig taskforce initiative.
Whilst British farms do not use sow stalls and rarely castrate piglets, however tooth clipping and tail docking are all too common in the UK and up to a third of pigs are kept without bedding material. In this situation, we are calling for mandatory method of production labelling, akin to the way that eggs from caged hens are labelled.
The film PIG BUSINESS, exposes how factory pig farming is causing damage across the world. Tracy started her four-year journey in the UK, where she discovers that supermarket labels say nothing about the welfare of pigs. Journeying to Poland she finds the controversial foreign-owned super-farms mistreating animals, damaging the environment, poisoning workers and neighbours, and destroying rural communities. In the USA she meets Robert Kennedy Jr. who tells her how the corporations that own the factory farms influence local politicians and dominate markets and how they have brought ruin to thousands of small, sustainable farms. In Brazil we hear protests that the rich world’s need for animal feed has been provided cheaply at the cost of cleared rainforest and evicted farmers.
In the feature-length film there are interviews with farmers, politicians, corporate and bank leaders and environmental experts and it includes footage of heart breaking animal suffering. It warns that multinational businesses are increasing their market share aided by taxpayers’ funds for their self-serving business model which produces inferior meat at an enormous cost to pigs, people, democracy and the planet. In the UK, More 4 aired the film twice, despite letters from the world’s largest pig producer threatening to sue if the film was broadcast. It was shown at the UK Parliament and over 100 MPs pledged their support. It is currently being shown across the world and can be viewed for free via the web page; pigbusiness.co.uk