FruitPig Soap Box

To get to this page you've clicked through a few pages which means you're interested in pork and traditional rare-breed products. With our increasing sensitivity for our environment, and our demands for humanely tendered stock, marketeers have been quick to jump on the band wagon in the quest for your cash. From the rouge farmgate to major supermarkets, our desire to buy naturally reared meat can be a minefield as there are, I'm afraid, many pretenders. In the pig world, 'rare breed' is so abused it is quite shocking. Firstly, may I state that pink pigs and all the cross breeds can be delicious and much of the pork we have eaten in the past has been from this group...much of which may well have been brought up in excellent conditions. However, many of you wish to support the rare breeds; the more you buy and eat, the more breeders will breed....simple economics.

RARE BREED - Rare Breeds are pure breeds. Check the RBST link for the UK's general expert list of rare breed pigs. Rare breeds are not the off-spring 2 differing breeds. Old Spot Boars living with pink pig girls do not produce Old Spot Bacon...it's just bacon...tasty as it maybe (not the issue here). So rare breed is a pure breed not a cross breed. All of FruitPigs' carcases are authenticated 'Pedigree' no less. We know the smallholders/farmers personally and there are no middle men. The BPA (logo left) hold birth records for our pigs, their parents and grandparents etc. Therefore, to be rare-breed & pedigree, complete records must be available proving ancestry.

FREE RANGE - Means outside and with lots of room. Yes there are minimum definitions. However, many of the 'official' bodies don't recognise that pigs are outdoor animals. They state that pigs should be allowed "Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour" but don't define that normal behavious for a pig is within a group and outside. Pigs are rooters and they can't root around on a concrete floor...even with a little straw thrown down. All of our pigs live ouside groups, in fields and woods enabling them to 'rotovate' to their hearts content.