?Stewart Houston, chairman of the National Pig Association and BPEX, says the Competition Commission's focus on the pigmeat sector can only be good news.

The pig production sector in the UK has experienced a 40% decline in the breeding herd compared with eight years ago so it was gratifying that the Competition Commission drew attention to the profitability of the UK pigmeat supply chain in its Emerging Thinking report.

But producers were bemused the Commission found

"little evidence to suggest retailers have undermined the viability of pigmeat farming" and assumed consumers could make discriminatory choices at point of purchase. How can shoppers make buying decisions, based on the values they hold as citizens, if there is poor origin labelling and no commonly adopted welfare labelling systems on many packs of ham, bacon and sausages?

The fact remains that 70% of imported pigmeat would be illegal to produce in this country. Our research has shown UK shoppers support the unilateral legislation imposed by the government in the past decade to ban the use of sow stalls in UK pig production. We recognise not all retailers are guilty of poor sourcing and labelling practices, but there is a marked difference in the degree of rigour with which they audit their own supply chains.

We welcome retailers' statements of policy being put into the public domain and urge chains to state their position. No buyer can afford to turn a blind eye to sourcing integrity. We want focus on values and value, not just price. For our part, we will continue to speak with chains on an individual basis to keep retailers honest and will submit further evidence to the Commission.

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