Zoe gives her verdict on retailers' approach to British pork

Following the autumn round of NPA meetings with retailers, Zoe Davies has highlighted the 'inteteresting divergence in behaviour' between .

In her latest column for Pig World, Zoe, NPA's chief executive, praised the Co-op for its commitment to British pork and product development.

"Not only have they committed to move everything across to British, including lamb, which is going to cause them some difficulty, they are also really thinking about product innovation and moving the pork category forwards.

"There are some exciting products in development that I am sure will increase sales of British pork."

But in contrast, the Tesco buyer was all about volume, she wrote. "They’ve said it’ll be 3-4 years before they start thinking about new product development, so focused are they on taking back market share. 

"Still, at least they are finally talking about delivering the much discussed producer contract and share our concerns on product quality, so we may yet see some useful progress."

Zoe also contrasted the relentless drive by the retailers to improve efficiency as pork consumption drops with the stated aims of Farming Minister George Eustice to push the UK pig industry down a higher welfare road, with the help of a new post-Brexit farm support policy. 

"It’s hard enough trying to get the average consumer to notice the product is British, let alone what system the pigs have been reared in," she wrote.

You can read the column in full here