Warning on EU sow stall ban
The Shadow DEFRA Secretary has warned that the incoming EU-wide Sow Stall Ban which is due to come into force in January 2013 may be missed by a significant number of EU member states. Mary Creagh MP used a visit to a Yorkshire pig farm to underline her remarks.
Luxembourg, Sweden and the UK have already banned the use of sow stalls, and Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Lithuania are all scheduled to complete the transition to alternative methods by the end of the year. However, it is believed that a number of the remaining EU member states will fail to comply with the ban in time and those in compliance will therefore be at a competitive disadvantage.
Mrs Creagh drew parallels with the recent battery egg ban in which many EU countries including the UK failed to make the transition by the time the ban was brought in and argued for action by the Government accordingly. “After the fiasco over imports of battery eggs, the Government must take a strong lead in ensuring our UK supply chain is ready for the ban on sow stalls next January. British shoppers want to be confident about where their meat comes from, and I hope that supermarkets will also take a lead in supporting home-reared pork in their products.” she said.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
