A 155-year era in the bacon industry is set to come to an end after Danish Crown announced that it will stop the supply of full bone-in sides this weekend. The final production run was due to take place in Jutland, in Denmark, on Friday, with the last deliveries of sides to the UK due this weekend. Paul Wright, logistics director of DBI, which is Danish Crown's selling arm in the UK, said demand for sides had declined substantially and the total weekly tonnage had declined below a practical and economic level. Wright said: "After 155 years it is the end of an important era in Denmark, but there have been so many fundamental changes in the market, as a result of legislation and technology, that the Danes have had to respond accordingly." Twenty five years ago, sides accounted for 80%-90% of imports into the UK from Denmark, and the country's refrigerated container service between the Jutland port of Esbjerg and Harwich and Newcastle was hailed as the "ideal model" for similar distribution services in many parts of the world. Many bacon pundits predicted that the demise of the side would be much speedier, but now the proportion is little more than 1%. Wright added: "We have had to tailor our product to demand and almost all the cuts are now shipped to the UK individually wrapped in vacuum sealed bags." Most sides have gone to small traditional wholesalers who have sold them on as cuts to independent retailers. {{NEWS }}

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