THE British Pig Executive (BPEX) is pleased the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint it made over an advertisement by the Vion Group, owners of Key Country Foods.

© www.bpex.org.uk

The advertisement, in The Grocer, said Vion "only used meat from healthy animals treated according to the latest animal welfare regulations and therefore ensuring the highest quality along the entire supply chain."

The ASA has ruled that the advertisement was untruthful. It told Vion to make it clear in future ads that they treated animals according to the regulations in the country in which each animal was reared. Extensive analysis by BPEX has shown, some two-thirds of pigmeat imported into the UK comes from production systems which would be illegal here.

BPEX Chief Executive Mick Sloyan said: "Complete accuracy about animal welfare regulations is vital, especially in The Grocer which is an important magazine read by retailers and other influential people in the food chain. "We understand this was an advertisement from Vion addressed across the whole of Europe but welfare regulations in Britain are considerably higher than in the rest of the EU.

"We are sure any future advertisements by Vion will recognise the high welfare standards of British production. We hope this advertisement was simply human error and will not recur." The adjudication in full can be found at www.asa.org.uk

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