A clumsy PR stunt by Asda was the last thing Britain's beleaguered pig industry needed this week. By threatening to withdraw nine lines of Belgian pâté in the wake of an EU ban on live pig exports, the multiple ran the risk of trivialising an issue that deserves to be treated far more seriously. Anybody with half a braincell should be able to see that the European Commission's ban on shipments of live animals is a sensible move in the wake of the first outbreak of swine fever in this country for 14 years. Don't forget: nobody is preventing exports of processed pigmeat and nobody is suggesting the ban will be in place any longer than necessary. There are no similarities between the Commission's action and the ongoing French ban on imports of British beef. The former is a sound public health measure that, as the Dutch will readily testify, has already been used elsewhere in the EU to good effect; the latter is an illegal measure that deserves to be roundly condemned. All of which makes Asda's decision to put out such an obfuscatory press release look like nothing more than a crass attempt to generate a few tabloid headlines. Unless, of course, I've got it wrong. Maybe Asda is really serious about this issue. In which case, I look forward to seeing it withdraw American products from its shelves by way of protest at the outrageous way our processed pigmeat is being treated on the other side of the Atlantic. C'mon Asda, let's see some action. Whoops. I almost forgot. You're owned by an American company aren't you? The more charitable among you may argue that Asda should be excused this week's little gaffe. After all, it has spent much of this year's silly season fighting a truly vicious PR war with its rivals. And as Tesco discovered, a little bit of EU bashing can sometimes do a lot of good. Asda, however, has gone too far. So perhaps it's time the supermarkets called a truce. Before someone gets hurt. Julian Hunt Deputy editor {{OPINION }}

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