The ASA received a total of three complaints including Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA!) and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) about a single BPEX poster “Pork, a Guide to the Cuts” which appeared in 2008.
One of the complaints was rejected, however, the complaint by CIWF against the use of the phrase “British pig farmers have very high welfare standards” was upheld.
Following the judgement, BPEX sought advice from the ASA on what would constitute acceptable wording and that advice, which involves a very minor modification, will be followed.
The ASA adjudication said: “Although we accepted that the QSM mark represented higher standards of welfare than some countries in Europe in two areas, the use of sow stalls and the castration of male piglets, we noted there was no clear guidance as to how the welfare of pigs across Europe should be measured.
“Because the claim "British pig farms have very high welfare standards" was used in the context of an ad that implied a link between the quality of the meat and the standard of care of the pigs, we considered readers would understand the claim to mean that the welfare of the pigs themselves was very high.
“Because there was no clear guidance as to how to measure pig welfare across Europe, and because there was sufficient doubt as to whether the standard of welfare of pigs on all farms that signed up to the QSM could be described as very high, we concluded the ad was misleading.”
Despite this BPEX will continue to maintain that the QSM continues to reflect very high welfare standards particularly when compared to the rest of the EU.
The banning of sow stalls by UK Government legislation since 1999, which is still widely practiced on the Continent and the continued use of castration, which is prohibited within the QSM, lie at the core of this claim.
Until such time as there is a level playing field on welfare standards across the EU, BPEX will continue to promote its QSM on the basis of very high quality welfare.
BPEX Head of Marketing Chris Lamb said: “We lost on a technicality because we did not connect the claim made directly with a comparison to the rest of Europe, particularly with reference to sow stalls and castration. We shall obviously make sure we do in the future.”
BPEX Chairman Stewart Houston said: “Welfare is an important area for the British pig industry and BPEX will continue to maintain its standards whilst at the same time engaging in constructive debate to raise standards still further.”
