All Change

The Credit Crunch/Recession Alters

Attitudes and Food Availability

Organic enthusiast, Sally Jackson ceases to feed  Pink Pigs organically. Iceland may become an EU Member with huge consequences to fish conservation and availability. Jamie Oliver goes on the offensive to put us of foreign pork. 

For many years, the Pink Pig in Holme, has prided itself on producing, sourcing and selling organic food. In particular the “Holme Reared” pork meat and sausages heralded the quality and sustainability of organic principles. Scoff has always considered that organic has its place and is definitely environmentally friendly. However, most taste tests show that consumers are unable to discern, objectively, any significant difference in taste on a regular basis. However, we do think that those who rear and grow organically are more driven and fastidious, often able to provide locally produced products without so many travel miles… In those circumstances, organic makes sense but not the exclusion of food produced using other means.

The cost of organic pig feed is about double that of non organic. This says something about the ability of organic to produce sufficient supplies and its cost of production. In difficult financial times, the market for higher priced organic food shrinks as the advantages are not, perhaps, so attractive

Iceland is rather larger than the Pink Pig. I sold its investors rather down the ice flow in as disastrous a way as it shunted our fishermen out of its 200 mile limit by the Cod Wars. Souwester in hand, Iceland wants now to be fast tracked to the EU. However, it won’t have a 200 mile limit then. So will the U K boats (what’s left of them) be able to use a wider sea? Very interesting. We should have stuck it out in the first place, says Scoff.

Finally, Jamie has come out of the school kitchen and into the pig pen. Channel 4’s expose of the lack of Rights for Pigs, demonstrated that UK pig producers, who have much more onerous requirements (rightly) for looking after the welfare of pigs, are able to produce pork cheaper. Further more, if a company butchers, packs and presents foreign pig carcasses, it becomes UK pork. Let’s all get after DEFRA to make them sort it out. Our pig producers must not go to the wall.