Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

Do you know how your pork was raised? If you're buying chops or ham or bacon at the supermarket in the U.K. or the U.S., probably not. Not only are the terms confusing, but the labeling can be misleading. In Great Britain, sow stalls—the small indoor cages where most U.S. and European pigs spends their four- to five-year lives—are banned. Think of sow stalls as battery cages for chickens, or tiny feedlots for cows, and you'll get the idea. It's neither humane nor safe; pigs raised in these environments are more likely to contract diseases, their diets are less nourishing, and disposing of their waste becomes an environmental challenge.

But despite the banning of the practice in Britain, much of the pork sold in the country is raised in intensive indoor pig farms; even some of the stuff marked with the British flag logo. Cheaper pork is imported from Europe and processed, smoked, or packaged in Britain. And most consumers don't pay much attention to pork labeling, in any case, just looking for the cheapest price. As a result, pork farmers in the U.K. are going bankrupt.

Jamie Oliver is raising the alarm, warning that in five to ten years, there may be no British pork industry left. Unless, that is, Britons start buying locally-farmed pork; it could cost only "3p extra a rasher of bacon." He's producing a documentary, "Jamie Saves our Bacon," to illuminate the problem and encourage viewers to read labels and demand British pork; it will air as part of Channel 4's Great British Food Fight season, which begins January 19, 2009. Fun fact: the network won't "rein in" Jamie's occasionally foul language, the network says.