Why do we import Bacon

multi power · Aug 7, 2019

borderterribles said:
We produce dry cure Bacon and other Pork products and sell direct to consumers via regular Farmers Markets. Until recently when we changed slaughterers, the lorry which delivered our pigs back also had foreign Pork on board, Belgian, Spanish and Polish, all on its way to our direct competitors. I didn't enquire with that company about the price of the imported meat, but have to assume that it is sufficiently cheaper than UK produced Pork.
We are currently running at approximately 80% repeat business on the Bacon, which I am happy with. I accept that ours isn't the cheapest, but that isn't the market that I'm after. The sad truth of it is that, by and large, the majority of UK consumers are pretty undiscerning about the quality and provenance of what they put in their mouths, and many of the major food retailers in this country exploit that fact relentlessly. Bring on Brexit, I say. Well, someone had to mention it!
If anyone would like some of our top quality Dry cure Bacon, then please PM me on here. TFF discounts available.

And mighty good bacon it is too, highly recommend

czechmate · Aug 7, 2019

bobk said:
You don't live here . so how do you know .

I think even a brexituur can accept there are more Poles in Poland, more Cz’s in the Cz republic and more Slovaks in Slovakia than there are in the UK. Can we agree on that?

Derrick Hughes · Aug 7, 2019

M-J-G said:
Of course you can, just go to a country that has them available, I'd have thought that obvious. Or wait 6 months and they might be available here.

What I was referring to in my previous reply was that it's a matter of choice as to which car you bought.

You choose to buy a German vehicle, so you buy it. People buy imported bacon because they choose to (most likely based on price), and it's available. So why not?

They dont have a reason not to buy it
The NFU and the like need to give them a reason . It's not prices I expect the price is the same as british . It's all on the same shelf they just grab what they see first

Pan mixer · Aug 7, 2019

Back to the decrease in pig numbers.....(which is why we import bacon)

We had a unilateral welfare law imposed banning sow stalls from 1999, many pig farmers couldn't invest in replacement and so went out.

Europe eventually agreed to a partial ban on stalls from 2013 which many have yet to fully implement, sow stalls are cheap and efficient as well as a horrible place to keep a pregnant sow.

Britain had a breakdown in pig disease in 2000 (swine fever iirc) which imposed huge movement restrictions, market collapsed as exports were banned by other countries, more pig farmers packed it in.

Same with foot and mouth.

Now a large percentage of 'British Bacon (and pork) is produced here by a company wholly owned by the Danes as they think that it is more profitable to produce pigs in Britain than produce in Denmark and export.

Martin Holden · Aug 7, 2019

Steevo said:
Can the Danish produce it cheaper than UK?

One thing I will say....supermarkets have ruined bacon! Never again will I buy it from anywhere other than a local butcher.

A lot of supermarket bacon is water injected or it sure seems like that!

Martin Holden · Aug 7, 2019

Clive said:
doesn't matter if thousands or hundreds - if we are going to start taking environment seriously nothing should be moved further than needed

and yes I include cereals in that statement - the only reason to import of export anything should be if "local" alternative is unavailable - the taxation system on imports and exports should be fluid to reflect / enforce this and stop prices rising too far as supply runs out locally

big action but the environment is a BIG problem

Quite right! Moving product many hundreds or thousands of miles when we can product it on our shores makes ecological sense. The Danes don’t eat bacon like we do for breakfast but take great delight in sending it all over here for us to consume.

Clive · Aug 7, 2019

bobk said:
You really do live on a different planet .

Let’s hope our children still have a planet to live on hey

czechmate · Aug 7, 2019

Martin Holden said:
A lot of supermarket bacon is water injected or it sure seems like that!

The modern method of bacon making takes a matter of hours whereas traditional bacon takes days (or is it even weeks)

bobk · Aug 7, 2019

czechmate said:
I think even a brexituur can accept there are more Poles in Poland, more Cz’s in the Cz republic and more Slovaks in Slovakia than there are in the UK. Can we agree on that?

Yes , so what;s your point :scratchhead:

Clive · Aug 7, 2019

New Zealand lamb - now that is daft ! I’ve been to Wales , sheep are not exactly rare ! and really see no logic to bring lamb from the other side of the planet

Any sensible government would tax the hell out of that kind of stupidity

czechmate · Aug 7, 2019

Clive said:
Let’s hope our children still have a planet to live on hey

I think it unlikely but that’s completely off topic (in my case I mean grand kids)

bobk · Aug 7, 2019

Clive said:
Let’s hope our children still have a planet to live on hey

Stop ragging that car around at a weekend then

bobk · Aug 7, 2019

czechmate said:
I think it unlikely but that’s completely off topic (in my case I mean grand kids)

And you

Clive · Aug 7, 2019

bobk said:
Stop ragging that car around at a weekend then

Rarely get time these days

But I suspect I save a lot more fuel and carbon on my farm though stopping pointless deep tillage than a F1 grid burns most weekends

As I posted earlier we are ALL hypocrites so it’s going to take tax and law to stop us ..... me included !

Gordy1 · Aug 7, 2019

Ball acre said:
Co-op ditches Danish bacon to move to 100% British - Pig World

www.pig-world.co.uk

At least they are trying. Went to a farm shop a while back and they had Danish bacon for sale! Won't be going back.

Our local farm shop only sells locally produced meat, vegetables, cakes, bread etc.& its comparable prices to supermarkets.

czechmate · Aug 7, 2019

bobk said:
Yes , so what;s your point

Urm, why would I need to visit (or worse live in) the uk to get a Eastern European’s opinion when the majority of them aren’t in the uk?

bobk · Aug 7, 2019

Clive said:
Rarely get time these days

But I suspect I save a lot more fuel and carbon on my farm though stopping pointless deep tillage than a F1 grid burns
most weekends

As I posted earlier we are ALL hypocrites so it’s going to take tax and law to stop us ..... me included !

That's not even an argument

bobk · Aug 7, 2019

czechmate said:
Urm, why would I need to visit (or worse live in) the uk to get a Eastern European’s opinion when the majority of them aren’t in the uk?

Is this room 101 or something .......... :scratchhead:

ollie989898 · Aug 7, 2019

To be fair ive largely gone off supermarket meat. Luckily the wife is a great cook so we do have a few meat free options. Tend to eat a lot of fish these days in fish pies.

Supermarket poultry and pork is all utter bilge. Might as well eat quorn.

Clive · Aug 7, 2019

czechmate said:
I think it unlikely but that’s completely off topic (in my case I mean grand kids)

oh dear !

is the earth flat as well and I bet we never actually landed on the moon either !

Why do we import Bacon

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0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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