After his 2008 chicken crusade – where he campaigned against the conditions under which chickens are farmed – Jamie Oliver has now taken up the plight of British pigs.
Oliver’s new programme, Jamie Saves Our Bacon (to be screened by Britain’s Channel 4 this month), will hopefully raise awareness about the conditions in which pigs are raised. The show aims to expose some shocking practises on the continent.
The programme will also give clout to the RSPCA’s drive to encourage supermarkets and other pork retailers to voluntarily develop labels that give clear explanations about how pigs are farmed – including free range, outdoor bred or outdoor reared.
Always read the label
Part of Oliver’s plan is to make consumers aware of the difference between these retail labels as they are not nearly as harmless as they sound.
For example “Outdoor bred” is usually used to label pork from pigs that have spent only the first three or four weeks of their lives in free-range systems. “Outdoor reared” pigs on the other hand could usually have access to outdoors for up to 10 weeks before being moved indoors.
Jamie Saves Our Bacon will also cover pig rearing from insemination to slaughter and the plate, with a detailed focus on welfare issues including tail docking, sow stalls and farrowing crates.
So what is he hoping to achieve? He’s not gunning for British pig farmers. On the contrary, in his 90-minute programme, Jamie aims to find out why pork production in the UK is under threat and to examine what can be done to support farmers.
Neither is he advocating boycotting pork. All he is doing is making the farmers and the consumers aware of the facts and encouraging them to make their own decisions and as the saying goes, knowledge is power.
We always knew prosciutto was close to his heart.
What do you think should be next on his list?