PLANTATION PORK IS FREE-RANGE, GM FREE WITH NO ADDED WATER!

'Our free-range GM free pork excels in its taste and succulence because we only use traditional pig breeds that improve eating quality. There is absolutely no justification for adulterating fresh pork to improve its flavour as described in the article below. We use breeds of pig that are recognized for their flavor and not just the economic speed of growth. We also feed safe healthy diets that enhance meat quality. Combine this natural approach with a stress free, free range life style and you have what I have been producing for many years now - pork that is easy to cook with a fantastic taste'.

Hugh Norris, Managing Director


The following is an extract from an article written by Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent, The Guardian. First published on Friday July 16, 2004.

SUPERMARKETS CRITICISED OVER WATER IN FRESH PORK

It is one of the oldest adulteration tricks in the book - selling water instead of meat. And now a survey has found that the practice has spread to fresh pork sold in the big supermarkets.

Raw meat injected with water and additives to retain the moisture is being sold alongside ordinary fresh meat by Britain's leading chains, an investigation by Shropshire trading standards has discovered.

Tesco, the market leader, seems to have been ahead of the game. Buy two of its "Finest" fresh pork chops, "specially selected from Norfolk and Suffolk farms, reared outdoors and matured longer for added flavour and extra tenderness", and you could be forgiven for thinking you were getting the purest of meat. In fact the fresh chops are 89% pork - the rest is added water, dried glucose syrup, polyphosphates to hold the water in, preservative and "partially deodorised rosemary extract".

This watered down pork costs £6.99 a kilo.
The Co-op, Sainsbury's, and Asda are selling similarly watered-down fresh pork loin steaks "basted with garlic butter and added water" are only 74% pork, having a knob of butter on top and water with polyphosphates injected into the meat. At the Co-op you can buy boneless pork legs, pork chops, and even "premium" pork loin steaks that are 89% pork and 5% added water, with glucose syrup for good measure. Sainsbury's sells Roach Farms Perfect Pork which is 87% pork.

Tesco confirmed is had been injecting its "Finest" pork for about three years. "The water isn't injected to add weight or dupe customers. It is added to improve eating quality," a spokesman, Steve Gracey, said. As pork has been bred to be leaner, it has become "more unpalatable", he said. In blind tasting most people preferred it, although it is not clear what they were offered as an alternative. "I am not aware of any other method of improving eating quality," he added.

Asda blamed customers' poor cooking skills. "Without the water, the pork would just end up dried out," a spokesman suggested.

< back