Pat's Note: This is Scotland trying to put clear blue water between
Britain's very troubled BPEX and its unsupported claim that its pigs
don't have MRSA.

The recent Animal Aid TV exposure on the BPEX board's pig farms and
the claimed poor conditions was restricted to English farms and
obviously Scotland does not want to be associated with alleged poor
conditions and wild claims.

BPEX despite the "British" in its name does not represent Scotland or
Wales. 

They very sensibly took their money and ran a couple of years ago. 

Once it was only foreigners that got confused between Britain and its
constituent nations, now it seems to be everybody.

The good is claimed by everyone, the bad is firmly disassociated.

The PM is eventually going to have to make a statement about MRSA in
British pigs. I notice that Scotland has not made any statements one
way or the other.

http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/18511/report-the-cost-of-commitment-to-pig-welfare

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Report: The Cost of Commitment to Pig Welfare

SCOTLAND - Scotland’s pigs are raised to world leading standards, but
there’s a cost that goes with this commitment, a new independent
report has confirmed.

The new report, published by the Farm Animal Welfare Group (FWAG) says
that the majority of pigs in Scotland are kept to a higher welfare
standard than elsewhere in the EU and other countries. 
  
The report highlights the further animal welfare steps taken by the UK
industry to go beyond the minimum standards of pig welfare set out by
EU directives. 

In particular it draws attention to the UK ban on stalls for
non-lactating sows and the fact that the UK has the world’s only large
scale farm assurance schemes focused on animal welfare. 

The Quality Meat Scotland pig assurance scheme offers full chain
assurance for 99% of the pigs raised in Scotland, and only pork marked
with the Specially Selected Pork label offers this promise. 

Having the most rigorous inspection of a producers’ compliance with
animal welfare legislation and a bigger focus on good practice than
any other country comes with a cost attached. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
"The Scottish pig industry can be justifiably proud of its support of
the development of a world leading system that promotes animal welfare
and ensures quality and safety."  
Andy McGowan, Industry Development Manager for Quality Meat Scotland 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The costs for UK producers are more than 12% higher than the EU
average and more than 60% higher than North and South American
exporting countries. 

Andy McGowan, Industry Development Manager for Quality Meat Scotland,
said: “The Scottish pig industry can be justifiably proud of its
support of the development of a world leading system that promotes
animal welfare and ensures quality and safety. 

“This report shows that there’s not a level playing field when it
comes to the quality and cost of production systems within the EU, and
it’s a completely different ball game in other parts of the world. 

“The market needs to reward this investment by the Scottish industry
by demanding the same rigorous standards from imported product that
consumers rightly expect and get from domestic pork. 

“A healthy, high quality pig industry is required to produce healthy,
high quality pigs.” 

The FAWC report was prepared for the Scottish Government as part of
the pig industry task force. Quality Meat Scotland is a member of the
task force, which is looking at ways of supporting the Scottish
industry while it is facing large increases in feed, labour and
energy. 

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com