The government has refused to enshrine the UK’s high food standards in law, opening the door for a US trade deal that could see pork with lower animal welfare, food safety and environmental standards swamping the UK. This would hurt British farmers and our ability to improve British food standards. We’re asking popular high street food brands to stand up for UK farmers and reject lower quality pork imports from the US – or any other country.
Greggs, Say NO to Toxic US Food Deal!
Your sausage roll could soon have a new ingredient… ractopamine-dosed pork from the US & Brazil. Ask Greggs to say no!
US vs UK
The US has far lower standards than both the UK and EU. Pigs in the US are reared in cruel, over crowded environments with mother pigs unable to turn around in their pens for almost their entire lives. Most pigs in the US are dosed with the muscle-builder drug Ractopamine which is banned in 160 countries, and antibiotic use (to stave off disease and as a growth promoter), is three times higher than in the UK. How can our farmers compete with a factory pork industry which the US taxpayer subsidises by paying the clean-up costs in terms of people’s health due to antibiotic resistant diseases, polluted environment from the disposal of excessive quantities of waste and volatility to closure and consequent breakdown in the food chain as witnessed at the Smithfield processing plants closed during the Covid pandemic.
Quotes
Pig farmers such as Peter Greig, who runs family-owned Pipers Farm producing and retailing high quality grass fed meats, have joined the campaign alongside celebrities including animal welfare advocates Dominic West, Leslie Ash and Jerome Flynn.
Peter Greig, Farmer
“Food is not cheap if the external costs are simply being exported. We should be looking to protect and improve the higher standards that are met by farmers in this country. We know that our customers are increasingly aware of how animals are reared, and want to support UK farmers rather than simply allow imports of inferior products that will undermine our industry.”
Dominic West, Actor
“I love eating meat, particularly pork. However, I don’t want to eat any animal that has had a miserable life. I think most of the world agrees but it seems that our government is going to sign a free trade treaty with America that would undermine our urgent need to improve food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards. So, please could you satisfy your customers by promising not to stock any meat imports with lower standards than are demanded of our farmers in the UK. Many supermarkets as well as Nando’s and Dominos are already on this road for the chicken they stock, so how about making a popular stand to ensure no substandard meat comes into the UK?
Jerome Flynn, Actor
Factory farming is horrific. We call on all major fast food chains to follow public demand by pledging not to trade in meat that would be illegal to produce in the UK. If our market is flooded with cheap meat from America or Brazil what hope do we have to improve our standards here? So, please make a stand and refuse to buy low quality imported meat that undermines our UK farmers.
Leslie Ash, Actor
The overuse of antibiotics these days is having a profound effect on the ability of humans to fight off deadly infections. I’ve had MSSA (closely related to MRSA) but I was lucky and my body was able to fight the infection and my immune system worked very hard with the antibiotics and literally saved my life. Our immune system is what we rely on to stay alive and fight off deadly infections and viruses such as COVID-19. Antibiotics can cure bacterial diseases, unless those diseases become antibiotic-resistant from antibiotic over-use.
That’s why I was so distressed to learn that in intensive factory farming, distressed animals are pumped with large amount of antibiotics to ward off infections they contract from being kept in dirty, tiny pens where some of these animals are never able to turn around during their short lives. These pens become a breeding ground for antibiotic resistant bacteria that pass to pigs and also to the workers and neighbours.
If you care about you and your family’s health, then you should care about what you are eating. Tell your local high street food chain not to supply cheap, sub-standard meat imported from the USA where pigs are given three times more antibiotics than pigs in the UK.
Tracy Worcester, Director of Farms Not Factories
“I’ve been campaigning for pigs to live freely in fields for years. Without a guarantee on high standards, we could see a race to the bottom in future years. Brexit means we can write our own rules, so it is time for the Prime Minister to ensure that our new agricultural rules mean we see higher food standards in British favourites, such as the sausage roll.”