Pig producers warn of the ‘next food scandal’

A WARNING that the next food scandal could be coming along came yesterday from the pig industry as some retailers move back to stocking cheaper cuts of pig meat.

The National Pig Association (NPA) claimed the foundations of the next food scandal were already being laid by some supermarkets as they edged away from the shorter supply chains they had promised following “horsegate”.

The NPA said it had noted a number of pork, bacon and gammon lines being switched back to imported products, as they were marginally cheaper.

So far it has not named and shamed the retailers, saying it wanted to hold meetings with them to find out their reasons for retreating from their post-horsegate promises to introduce short supply chains.

“Since the heat has come off the horsemeat scandal, we’ve started to see retailers sliding back from the strong British position they publicly adopted to a point where they are back importing more European product,” said NPA general manager Dr Zoe Davies.