Two recent Daily Mail articles which focused on animal welfare and the use of antibiotics in the pork and poultry sectors have drawn a sharp response from NFU deputy president, Minette Batters.
In an open letter to the newspaper, she commented that the articles “do nothing to inform the public about British food and farming” but that instead they are guilty of mixing standards and statistics from around the world and merely end up confusing the issue.
“British farms operate to high standards which underpin our world-class British food right across the supply chain,” wrote Ms Batters. “These go from farm to fork, underpinned by assurance schemes such as Red Tractor.
“All shoppers should look out for The Red Tractor logo on pack, because it’s the mark of a rigidly, independently audited supply chain. It ensures that we have one of the safest and most traceable food systems of any country in the world.”
She also commented that the articles paint a picture of the industry that UK farmers will not recognise.
“Standards of production across the globe are very different and British farmers are proud of the ones they uphold – and rightly so,” she added.
“When British people buy British food produced on British farms they know that it’s produced to extremely high animal welfare standards, it’s traceable and it’s a quality product they’re getting. This is a privilege which many other countries simply don’t have and their food chain and countryside look very different as a result.”