News • Sustainable Farming Campaign
Let pigs eat cake
Sustain member Feedback argues that the UK should lift the ban on feeding surplus food to pigs.
Feeding pigs most forms of food waste was made illegal across the EU in 2002. The UK’s exit from the EU provides an opportunity for the UK to reform this law.
Pig feed in the UK is currently a mix of products like soy, often grown in deforested land in South America, and cereal products which use up valuable land and resources which could be used to feed people. The United Nations estimates that if farmers all around the world fed their livestock on the food we currently waste and on agricultural by-products, enough grain would be liberated to feed an extra three billion people, more than the additional number expected to be sharing our planet by 2050.
Feedback have written a new report on feeding surplus food to pigs safely. The report states that:
“for thousands of years, humans have fed pigs on food waste, using up leftovers and agricultural by-products...Feeding more surplus food to pigs and chickens could yield substantial benefits, including improving the profitability of pig and chicken farming by taking pressure off feed costs.”
Feedback are asking the public to email Michael Gove calling on him to lift the ban on feeding surplus food to pigs.
Sustain encourages the integration of sustainable food and farming into local, regional and national government policies.
Published Thursday 26 July 2018
Sustainable Farming Campaign: Sustain encourages integration of sustainable food and farming into local, regional and national government policies.
