Here follows a press release from Mr Trotters in reponse to the article on page three of The Times today.
An offer of a new supply of British pork rind from British farmers has been the unexpected result of articles in national newspapers on the supply and labelling of British Snacks.
The articles were a critique of Staffordshire-made Mr Trotter’s, which uses a revolutionary triple cooking process to create Mr Trotter’s Great British Pork Cracklings. The main question was – are the words ‘Great British’ legitimate, now that the supply of suitable British rind has currently dwindled, and continental rinds are of necessity making up the main percentage of that company’s supply.
Mr Trotter welcomes the initiative by Mid Counties Co-op to adopt the new Happerley Scheme, which works on behalf of the UK food industry and consumers to develop a means to secure provenance honesty and transparency for foods. Mr Trotter’s Great British Pork Cracklings has already engaged with the optional scheme, sharing details of the sourcing of Mr Trotter’s pork rind and the rearing standards under which the pigs are kept.
Mr Trotter’s packaging was re-designed in 2018 to remove references to 100% British rind: And Mr Trotter website was also updated to reference continental pork. But the Happerley scheme asks the questions as to whether a truly iconic British snack, cooked in a new and revolutionary manner invented and used in Great Britain (Staffordshire), can sensibly call itself ‘Great British’, or is that misleading the customer?
Mr Trotter’s co-founder, Cotswold farmer Rupert Ponsonby, comments:
“We are dotty about Britishness, and we started the company because we couldn’t find anyone producing scratchings from British pigs. If Happerley and its supporters can use their new clout to find us regular supplies of high quality British rind, we would be over-joyed. But it does need to be to a very high specification, and this has been tough to find in Britain in the last year. It is time we worked together to find a solution, so we can again raise our percentage of British pork.
“We hope that this Happerley initiative by Midcounties Co-op will make food and drink producers look closely at their supply chains and their claims. It is a voluntary scheme, but we welcomed their approach for transparency, and we look forward to working with them and others to make our values clearer.
“We still believe that the welfare standards of British pigs are likely to be amongst the very highest in the world. And we hope that the article will generate a greater awareness from pig farmers and pork processors that there is a significant requirement for all sorts of British foodstuffs, which need fulfilling.”
Mr Trotter’s was established in November 2011 with the intention of being the first commercially available pork cracklings of the present era to be made with British pigs.
The supply of the special pork rind needed for the cooking process continued constant until 2018 at which time continuity of British supplies could not be assured due to the Company’s high specifications and the diminishing size of the British pig herd.
When supplies of British rind could not be assured, two of the original founders, food writers Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles, resigned as directors, as their purpose from the outset was to find a way of supporting British farmers.
ENDS
For further information contact Rupert Ponsonby
[email protected] 020 7384 1333 Feb 28
th 2019
