[Fowgill Farm]

Some of you may have heard or read in the press about the GOS breed securing european protection.

News was announced on Friday 18th June 2010 by the new Secretary of State at Defra, Caroline Spelman, that in future the produce of GOS pigs was to be protected throughout Europe by EU law. Under the Protected Food Names scheme, the GOS breed has been given unique protection with TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) status. This is much more unusual than PDOs and PGIs which apply to such things as champagne, Parma ham and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies because, unlike those, there is no geographic limitation as to where in the EU the pigs can be kept and the pork produced. This is only the second British TSG, (the other is Traditional Farmfresh Turkeys), and the first breed of any species to gain TSG status anywhere in the world.

It means that, in the near future, the Gloucestershire Old Spots Pig Breeders' Club will be able to prevent anyone selling GOS produce that does not meet the agreed standards that the pigs must be pedigree, birth notified and fully identifiable and kept in strict non-intensive conditions throughout the pigs' life. It is expected that a farm approval and certification scheme will need to be set up in order to facilitate this and protect the integrity of the breed and its excellent meat.

There will be further information available in due course on the GOS website. If you have any questions regarding this please free to contact the club committee. Details on GOS website www.oldspots.org.uk

[Hilarysmum]

So no more Waitrose style GOS pork then .....

[TheCaptain]

Ah, excellent, just what I needed.  My two girls are not pedigree but have AI'd using Deer Park so the offspring will be half pedigree.  Where does that leave me?  Probably with a load of weaners that I won't be able to sell or bring on to meat weight which I then won't be able to sell.

Well done.

[Mr Pig]

Your unregistered pigs will be your own produced pork which, if you finish them well, will have excellent eating qualities. You surely don't expect to have the same rights and status as someone doing the job properly with pedigree stock, do you?

[TheCaptain]

Doing the job properly?  Do you want to be a bit more patronising?  No I don't expect the same 'rights and status' as those who breed from 'Pedigree', but then again, I didn't realise it was Crufts for Pigs.

I'll have to sell it as the 'pork formerly known as GOS'.  They've just ensured that the breed is going to become even more rare as there are plenty of breeders out there who don't have Pedigreee Registered stock who now can't sell as GOS. 

[Mr Pig]

As unregistered animals do not count towards a breed's population, your argument is flawed from the start. You might also like to know that it is already illegal to sell meat from unregistered stock by the breed name under agreement of LACORS, the authority who advise Trading Standards. I suggest for your own peace of mind that you promote your pork as 'home produced'.

[TheCaptain]

So it's a pointless exercise then, if it's already illegal to sell meat from unregistered stock by the breed name?  It's only going to ensure that it is kept in non-intensive conditions.  Like Hilarysmum says, no more Waitrose style pork, which is going to see a decline in numbers of the breed.

Thanks for the advice on the home produced pork.

Double thanks for putting it across, again, as patronisingly as possible.

[Mr Pig]

The Waitrose style pork relies on just 4 boars at an AI station which are also used for pedigree breeding so once again your scare stories of threats to the breed are baseless.

[Hilarysmum]

I read that the Waitrose pork was from boars in Canada.   That the sows were not even GOS.  That the outdoor bit was only for the sows and v. small piglets. 

[Mr Pig]

I think you're confusing 2 different issues. The Canadian boars were another problem - for the Berkshire breed. They were brought over here and crossed with commercial hybrid sows and promoted as Berkshire pork. The GOS situation was similar using commercial hybrid sows and crossing them with GOS from Deerpark AI station. In fairness, the resulting progeny do spend the rest of their lives outdoors but it certainly isn't GOS bacon and sausages they were selling. They initially marketed it simply as GOS and then changed the smallprint to read 'sired by a pedigree GOS boar'. They're currently on their 4th version of the packaging and the GOS Breeders are still objecting through Trading Standards that it doesn't meet the LACORS ruling on breed naming of produce which was adopted into the recent voluntary code on pork labelling which Waitrose signed up to very quickly after it was introduced earlier this year.

Here is a link to the LACORS ruling just so that everyone can understand what is and what is not allowed. http://www.oldspots.org.uk/labelling.asp

Incidentally, the TSG status awarded last week covers pedigree GOS pigs throughout the EU so should help those pedigree breeders in France.

[Rosemary]

I think we've had a similar thread before about pedigree v purebred v outdoor etc etc. I'm glad the GOS breeders have got the status they wanted but like all labelling it only tells you a bit of the story - the breed, but nothing else about how the pigs are reared. It's such a minefield and I think there are bigger labelling issues than this.

As a meat purchaser, I'm more interested in how the meat is reared than the breed.

[TheCaptain]

The Waitrose style pork relies on just 4 boars at an AI station which are also used for pedigree breeding so once again your scare stories of threats to the breed are baseless.

What's your problem???  'Scare stories' What scare stories - I had genuine concern for the breed that has a basis in personal circumstances.  I aplogise for not being the all knowing when it comes to thing porcine, which you obvioulsy think you are.

[Mr Pig]

Rosemary

The new TSG status not only defines that the pigs must be regsitered pedigree GOS but also the farming methods. The GOS breeders have agreed a specification which now forms part of the EU law that in some ways is more onerous than some organic standards. It also defines that they must be slaughtered in small to medium-sized abattoirs. This is a deliberate policy to ensure that the mass market cannot start factory farming GOS pigs in order to gain the TSG status.

Here is the text of the EU law: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:238:0008:0013:EN:PDF

[Rosemary]

Seems like a good thing to me although I can understand why people already committed to non pedigree, purebred stock are a bit miffed. Is there a conversion method?

[Mr Pig]

No, there is no conversion method. Of course anyone with unregistered GOS can still keep breeding and selling good quality pork, they just can't call it Gloucester Old Spot pork. You say that you can understand owners of such stock being a bit miffed but consider for a moment those keepers of pedigree GOS who, to date, have had to compete at Farmers Markets etc with others with lower costs and less hassle claiming to sell the same product. Where was thair incentive to keep birth notifying litters, paying their subs to the British Pig Assn, tattooing pigs' ears etc, etc.? There's always two sides to every coin.