Following Jamie Oliver’s latest programme ‘Jamie Saves our Bacon‘, which aired 29 January and was watched by 2 million people; supermarkets are already reporting increased sales in pork. The programme revealed the appalling conditions of pigs raised in factory farms in Europe, the meat from which is imported to the UK. Jamie urged people to buy British pork due to higher welfare standards. He also promoted cheaper cuts of pork.

According to The Telegraph, “sales of pork belly joints have risen by 66 per cent and shoulder joints by almost 270 per cent”.

Jamie is perhaps best known for his school dinners project, which aims to get rid of the junk food served in schools and replace them with healthy meals. Through the campaign Jamie raises awareness of the huge issue of obesity in the UK, noting that “one quarter of teenagers are already obese”.

Regarding his new pig campaign he says on his website “The list of pork products stocked by the average supermarket is huge; bacon, sausages, ham, pies, gammon, Scotch eggs and even ice cream!”. This is where it becomes very confusing. How can a chef who claims to be concerned with the nation’s health promote foods which are strongly linked to heart disease, obesity and cancer? In particular, sausages, bacon and other processed meats are extremely damaging to health, so much so that the World Cancer Research Fund have warned that there is no safe level of consumption.

The environmental impact of pig farming can also not be ignored, as reported by DEFRA, the impacts include; soil compaction and erosion, toxic levels of zinc in soils, soil and water contamination with heavy metals and antimicrobial drugs, leaching of manure heaps leading to nitrate pollution and pathogen transfer, methane emissions from manure, adverse affects on biodiversity due to pigs destroying outdoor spaces and ammonia emissions which can acidify the surrounding area, and for those living close to the pigs, issues of noise and odour.

Whilst Jamie’s efforts to lessen suffering and support local farmers is commendable, his claim that pigs are raised under better conditions in the UK than in Europe and his plea to buy British pork has no doubt resulted in people buying pork who would not normally do so. Unfortunately, the reality is that British pig farms are far from being ‘high welfare’, as numerous investigations have shown, but not only that, by promoting pork Jamie is also promoting disease and environmental destruction.

–

Read more about…