Jamie Saves Our Bacon

[kt.]

Just watched it and enjoyed it.  Very good program.  I am surprised at the price difference for pork shoulder and pork neck fillets.... up to 1/3rd cheaper for the same meat.  They will be on the shopping list this weekend for sure.  Looked delicious.  I just bought a British pork loin joint yesterday from my local butcher.

[kt.]

[betula]

British outdoor I hope :)

[Lauren S]

Oh what program did you watch..?

[kt.]

Oh what program did you watch..?

"Jamie Saves Our Bacon"  On CH4 about the British pig farming industry.  The pig version of battery hens if you like.  I am not overly fussed on the hens front but will try the pork side of things so to speak.

[cambourne7]

simular format to 'kill it cook it eat it' with a celeb chef doing it.

[GodfreyRob]

A great program I thought. It was a bit light on facts but got a simple message over quite well.
I would like to know how you tell the difference from the labelling between pigs reared on slats, with straw or outdoors. You often see 'outdoor reared' labels but the others are not clear to me.

I am sure I am not the only one who has been conned by the 'Wiltshire Cured' label that suggests its produced in Wiltshire (when in fact its 'sourced' abroad)- when will food producers be forced to stop putting misleading labels on food?

[Joolieeee]

I thought overall it was ok, but I agree, there wasn't enough info on the difference regarding issues such as outdoor reared.  I watched Countryfile on Sunday, and they were highlighting the fact that there were pigs classed as outdoor reared, but they only need to have been outside for a certain amount of their life, or they have come from outdoor reared stock. These pigs then spend the rest of their life indoors (though in better conditions than abroad).  We, the consumer have the image they are all happily roaming around outside in mud, and this isn't the case.
I think it was good to point out the issues that our british farmers are suffering from, as they are working on an unfair playing field and this is key to getting supermarkets to re-invest in british pork, but there are other issues that weren't delved into too deeply.

[kt.]

You could clearly tell the Danish were looking after their farming interests by refusing to show the pigs reared in slats farming.  They would probably of had a clear backlash from several nations about it I suppose.  20% of the Danish pork industry is a large amount of money to be dented by public outcry.  They knew it would be damaging and why else put such a high profile figure in situ to dictate things for the program.

[triffid]

I know what you mean about the reluctant Danes, ktl...

I first cottoned onto the difficulties that British pig-farmers were facing when Waitrose started its 'save our bacon' campaign (many months before Jamie's...) They're a bit out of our league price-wise for lots of stuff, but we were so impressed by their concern both for their suppliers and their livestock that we've begun buying from them (they've started doing a lot of old-fashioned cheaper cuts, which helps, backed up with lots of recipe ideas.)   


Here's what Waitrose has to say about its piggy products http://www.waitrose.com/food/productranges/meat/pork.aspx
and here's the bunch of recipes we've found so helpful.  http://www.waitrose.com/autumn/forgottencuts.aspx   Rolled shoulder of pork with a cider and sage gravy?  :P

[tonybloke]

 we are members of the soil association, and in this months newsletter we got a load of stuff about pigs!
Here's some info, and a link to a poster about ORGANIC PIGS, http://www.soilassociation.org/pigs

[tonybloke]

here's a couple of images, taken last year, of Peter Melchet (policy chap at the Soil Association) and some of his Organic Pigs on his farm in Norfolk[attachment=1][attachment=2]
As you can see, LOADS of room, family groups, healthy pigs!! ;) ;)
Oh, they taste lovely!!
http://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/f201148200f2e8af80256dbf005202e4/7c85b0eebd7b349080256f2400576ed9!OpenDocument