Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the National Pig Association

The National Pig Association (NPA) is the representative trade association for British commercial pig producers and is affiliated to the National Farmers Union (NFU) and represents the interests of NFU members who produce pigs. We welcome the opportunity to make a submission to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s inquiry on the contamination of beef products.

1. General Remarks

The NPA fully supports the comments made by the National Farmers Union in their submission and wishes to reiterate them via our own submission. We also have some additional points that we would like to raise.

1.1 Traceability of product—the search for cheaper meat

The fact that beef products have been found to contain both horsemeat and pork over the last few weeks has shaken the food industry, compromised integrity and undermined consumer confidence. Although, aside from possible “bute” contamination, this has largely not been a human or animal health issue, we believe that it could have been and still could be. If products of unknown origin are being substituted, what is to stop meat contaminated with notifiable disease from entering the food chain? This may not cause undue concern for consumer health but would certainly be of great concern to the livestock industry. There are all manner of diseases circulating from Foot and Mouth Disease in Turkey to African Swine Fever and Classical Swine Fever in Russia. Retention times of these diseases in meat vary but in the case of ASF, the virus can live for up to 1000 days in frozen meat. We believe that this is a risk which we cannot afford to overlook. In addition the apparent ineffectiveness of current systems to reliably and rapidly trace the source of such illegal meat does not bode well if it did indeed contain exotic disease.

1.2 Shorter, dedicated supply chains

The fundamental issue throughout the recent beef contamination debacle is undoubtedly the long and convoluted supply chains involved (through many different countries) which have assisted any intended deception and prevented accurate traceability processes. The route to sale for British Red Tractor product however is via much shorter and more transparent supply chains. The pig industry has also worked hard to convince retailers to develop dedicated supply chains, fostering direct relationships with the farmers that supply their pork. This not only ensures a fair and sustainable price for the pigs, giving farmers the confidence to invest and strengthen UK businesses, but also provides a clear demonstration of provenance and traceability.

1.3 Continued flouting of EU pig welfare legislation

Whilst not directly related, the continued flouting of new EU Pig Welfare legislation partially banning the use of sow stalls, not only disadvantages UK producers (who have been completely compliant since 1999) and compliant European producers, it also questions the integrity of existing supply chains, traceability and labelling. More importantly such disregard by the 17 Member States who have failed to implement the Directive shows a lack of interest in preserving the integrity of EU pork production and further misleads the consumer. Clarity of labelling and origin on packaging and responsible sourcing policies are vital to ensure fair play for all involved throughout the supply chain and provide confidence for those purchasing pork in good faith.

1.4 NPA’s wall of fame

To counteract the issue detailed above, the NPA have written over 200 letters to all facets of the pork supply chain within the UK including retailers, processors, food service, manufacturers and restaurants to invite them to confirm their commitment to sourcing legally produced pigmeat by signing the “pork pledge”:

We pledge that all the pork products we use or sell are sourced from farms that are compliant with Council Directive 2008/120/EC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs. We are completely confident that our sourcing policy is robust enough to ensure that all of the pork we use has come from legal farms.

The businesses are then listed on the NPA Wall of Fame (and Shame) to promote confidence and enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. So far only 44 businesses have responded and of the four retailers, The Cooperative and Sainsbury’s will only commit their own label products as they are unable to confirm the origin of pork in branded products, despite David Heath’s affirmation at the last stakeholder meeting (held on the 06.02.13) that provenance of all products containing pork is the responsibility of the retailer/food service company. We fear many other retailers will follow suit.

1.5 Added cost of increased testing

The NPA is also very concerned that increased DNA testing and traceability exercises required to demonstrate provenance will incur costs that will be imposed upon the livestock industry. Indeed Tesco has already confirmed that any testing conducted will not be at the expense of the consumer. We believe that such costs should be passed down to those within the supply chain that caused the issue, not borne by farmers who are part of fully traceable supply chains. 92% of the pigs produced in the UK are assured via the independently audited Red Tractor scheme from the grain that the pigs eat directly through to the product in the pack. Every stage in the process is regularly monitored and checked against defined standards to ensure full traceability.

Modern technology means that the sensitivity of DNA testing goes far beyond what was currently available. And whilst DNA testing is undoubtedly a highly valuable tool we would urge that, without compromising the integrity of such tests, caution is applied to the absolute level of what constitutes acceptability. The NPA is already aware of dedicated species specific mince lines being installed in processing plants where even with thorough hygiene and cleaning, minute traces of DNA of a different species are still being detected.

February 2013