November 28, 2007

Burger King says no to pork from castrated pigs

Fast-food giant Burger King announced that it would no longer serve bacon from pigs castrated without an anaesthetic.

The company's pork supply will still come from England and Ireland where pig castration is not practiced.

Recently, there have been consumer campaigns against castration. Dutch animal rights activist group, Stichting Wakker Dier, has been campaigning for a long time in the Netherlands against the practice.

Burker King has joined big Dutch food producers such as Hema, Unox and Bakker in pledging to stop the use of meat from castrated pigs on 2009.

Earlier this month, a motion to completely ban castration of pigs without an anaesthetic was denied in the Dutch parliament.

In total, around 5 million pigs are transported from the Netherlands to foreign markets every year.