However, a partial ban on sow stalls, due to take effect throughout Europe from 1 January 2013, will have a major impact on the EU pig meat market, according to experts.
BPEX, the body that represents the interests of pig producers, said that similar animal welfare legislation, which came into force at the start of this year, has caused serious disruption with the price of eggs up 75% compared with a year ago.
BPEX warns that pig production is likely to fall by between 5% and 10% with the result that retailers will be face substantial price increases.
Maybe animal welfare is more important than the price of bacon (mmm, bacon, the one major food group!). Maybe the cost of feeding our own little ones is more important than the way the little ones we eat are treated.
It\’s a trade off. And there are no solutions, there are only trade offs. That\’s a pretty obvious statement and I\’m sorry to have to keep repeating it. But all too many just don\’t grasp the point.
Sure we should concern ourselves with the welfare of the little piggies. Sure, it is even possible that we should give up some of what we have to increase that porcine welfare. But that there is a trade off which has to be considered is exactly the same whether we are talking about bacon or civil servants troughing for grander pensions.
My opinion, a purely personal one you understand, is that Babe and siblings can have a bit more of my money, live happier and more carefree lives. The bureaucrats, well, we would seem to have some empty slaughterhouses as a result of the first policy…..
Guess who the Left will blame the price rises on…
But this is just a small example that shows the West’s greater hypocrisy. We have spent the last 20 years offshoring our manufacturing to places with lower environmental and labour protection standards than exist in the West. We are happy for the pollution to be spewed out, as long as we get cheap electronic goods, and the pollution is not on our doorstep.
If no goods could be imported to the EU that were not produced under identical conditions as within the EU, everything would cost more. Much more, many times more in fact.
But no-one mentions this total hypocrisy. We brush it under the carpet, because we want to have our cake and eat it.
Looks like more chance to eat imported pig products, raised using standards that our own pig farmers cannot work under. I can see the rest of the world being happier about their export market but can’t see how it improves things here so much…
But then the EU farmers representatives (i.e. nearly all the French MEPs & an assortment of other scumbags) will start whining about unfair competition from evil furriners. And some highly complex and damaging EU import duty will be imposed on pig products from nations that don’t meet an arbitrary welfare standard slightly higher than the EU mandated one.
And there will be international pig welfare inspector jobs – with €lots salaries and €fantastic expense accounts for the enarchs in Brussels, and reasonable jobs working in major pig farming areas like the Caribbean for their kids.
Wins all round? Greens, happy (ish, except the radical vegans who never are.) Pols happy? Yup.
The consumer? Out of pocket again but then who cares? Certainly not the EC or EP.
“Guess who the Left will blame the price rises on…”
Thatcher..?
JuliaM – why not? She gets blamed for everything apart from being popular.