Misleading pork adverts banned
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have banned pork advertisements under the Assured Food Standards (AFS) Red Tractor scheme.
The advertisements marketed high welfare pork, causing 207 complaints, including one from Compassion in World Farming (CIWF).
Red Tractor are known to keep some pigs in crowded barren pens and on slatted floors without straw - conditions many disagree is high welfare. Though Red Tractor pork significantly exceeds EU guidelines for accommodation standards, and use this as the basis for their high welfare claims, the ASA have deemed their advertising misleading.
According to CIWF, 80 percent of British pigs are estimated to be reared within the Red Tractor scheme, whose advertisements are no longer to appear in their current form.
Joyce D'Silva of CIWF said: 'This is a victory for consumers, who deserve to be able to choose higher welfare meat without being misled. This is also a victory for those pig farmers in the UK who adhere to higher welfare standards like the Soil Association's Organic Standard or the RSPCA's Freedom Food.'
HMRC has invited feedback to its communications regarding the employment status of locum vets and vet nurses.
