AWT calls for end to tasteless pork sales

Pig farmers should market traditional breeds packed with flavour rather than overweight, tasteless animals if they want to put more pork and bacon on restaurant menus, said chef Antony Worrall Thompson last week.

Worrall Thompson told a conference organised by the Meat and Livestock Commission that the flavour from historic breeds such as Gloucester Old Spot and Middle White was wonderful compared with current pig meat.

"Bland, intensely farmed pork is what our customers recognise as pork, but we in the restaurant business can begin to change that image if the pork industry gives us the right product."

Worrall Thompson called for full traceability of meat from farm to plate, guarantees on welfare-friendly rearing and an end to buying the cheapest pork and bacon.

"I won't serve any pork unless I know where it has come from and how it has been reared. In future, I shall only buy pork from British farms where, unlike elsewhere in Europe, welfare and eating quality are more important than the price of production."

The conference was also addressed by Lord Donoughue, minister for farming and food, who announced the setting-up of a charter mark for quality British pork which will give an assurance of standards in production and taste in pork.