Penrith and The Border MP, Dr Neil Hudson, today raised the issue of food security urged the Government into more action over the spiralling pig crisis. With the dreadful situation in Ukraine putting pressure on food security, the Government needs to do its utmost to keep a steady supply from UK producers. Dr Hudson questioned the Farming Minister during departmental questions in the House of Commons.
The situation on many pig farms is an animal welfare nightmare, with thousands of pigs having been culled on farm because there isn’t the meat processing workforce in place to handle the supply and other issues in the processing sector.
Dr Hudson asked:
“As with the pandemic, the dreadful situation in Ukraine has brought food security into sharp relief. Currently the pig sector in the UK is still in crisis with thousands of animals dammed back on farms and sadly 40,000 having been culled on farms and not going into the food supply chain. Creating huge health and welfare issues. I know the Government has put measures in place and the Minister is chairing summits, can the Minister update the House of what the Government is doing to avert this human and animal welfare crisis?”
Minister for Farming, Victoria Prentis replied:
“It is fair to say that the dreadful situation in Ukraine means that food security, in the broader sense, is uppermost in all of our minds. We must feel very fortunate in this country that we grow almost all of our own grain and are able to be so self-sufficient, 74% self-sufficient in what we can grow here. That is not to say, at all, that we should be complacent and the Government is working very closely with industry at all levels, with processors and with retailers, not just in the pig sector.”
Commenting after the Commons session Dr Hudson added:
“Food security, human and animal welfare are huge concerns to us all. I have raised the crisis in the pig sector and its wider consequences for the food supply chain and animal welfare with Government on numerous occasions. I raised it in many EFRA Committee sessions and in the Chamber with various ministers. We need to do more to prevent the awful scenes on farms of culling of animals. Apart from the animal welfare and food wastage, this has devastating effects on the mental health of our farming and related communities.”
