A bad label
Why is this a bad label?
Essex Cured
The words "Essex cured" refer to the way in which the meat has been cured and not to where the pigs have been sourced from or where the farm is located. In other words, the recipe used to cure the bacon maybe from Essex, but the pork could have been farmed outside the UK.
Made from a traditional recipe
Examine the pack – Is there any reference to where the actual pork has come from? The words "style" or "recipe" does not mean that the product is from the United Kingdom, nor does it mean that it uses British Pork unless the pack says made with or made using British pork.
Country side imagery
Rolling hills and blue skies might give the impression that the piggies who made your pork spent their lives roaming the British countryside, but always look for the welfare standards in print. Does it say anywhere that the pigs are free-range or carry the Freedom Foods logo? If not then it is likely that they will have been farmed in minimum welfare conditions. If the meat is from outside the UK and there is no mention of how the animal was farmed, then this could mean it was farmed at the minimum EU standards, which involves sow stalls.
Sourced in the UK
It is legal for e.g. bacon to be labelled as "produced in the UK", even when the pigs are not British. This is because the law says the “produced in” statement refers to the last country where a significant change was made to the product e.g. it could be the curing of the bacon. If you are concerned about this look for the words "produced using British pork" on the pack as this gives an clear indication of where the pigs are from.
If you are not able to find any clear origin labelling on the pack, we suggest you either contact the supermarket to find out where the pork is sourced from or choose another product which is more clearly labelled. Likewise we suggest that you contact the individual supermarket if you want to understand more about their pork sourcing standards and whether they apply equivalent welfare standards to pork that is sourced from overseas e.g. Denmark and Holland.
