Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The abrupt closure of two of the EU's largest and most profitable recycling industries at
a moment in history when the public was being urged to recycle everything else was noth-
ing short of extraordinary. The swill ban was imposed as a panic reaction to an epidemic
which could not possibly have been contained by restrictions on feed, and then absorbed
into EU policy without any public assessment of its usefulness or effectiveness. The public
appears to have taken it for granted that the ban is necessary for public health; but an ex-
amination of the historic figures for outbreaks of the diseases in question suggest that the
health concerns reflect certain ideological considerations.
During the Second World War the quantity of imported animal feed fell from 8,750,000
tonnes in 1939 to 1,250,000 tonnes in 1943, and most of this was reserved for milk produc-
tion. The number of pigs on farms was virtually halved, but the Small Pig-Keepers Council
lobbied local authorities to allow people to keep pigs in their back yards. In January 1940 a
national campaign to save scraps for pig swill was initiated. Neighbourhood pig clubs were
formed whose members fed their pigs with scraps from home, cafés, bakeries and anything
that came to hand together with small rations of feed. In towns, waste food was boiled up
into a concoction known as Tottenham Pudding - Ernest Onians, known as the Pudding
King, made a fortune from selling it, which he invested in a collection of over 400 paint-
ings. The pig clubs were so successful, that the Government exacted half the proceeds, to
prevent pig keepers becoming noticeably fatter than the rest of the population.
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It is therefore interesting to examine DEFRA statistics on the incidence of disease during
this 'special period'. The two main diseases in question are Classical Swine Fever (CSF)
which in its acute form is frequently fatal for pigs, but doesn't affect other animals, and
Foot and Mouth Disease, which is virtually harmless to pigs, but causes unpleasant but
short-lived symptoms in cattle.
CSF was endemic in Britain in the period leading up to the war with an average of about
1800 cases per year in the previous ten years. There was a rise in the incidence of the dis-
ease in 1940 to 5019 cases, making it the worst year since 1898. Whilst this rise was partly
attributed to the use of swill, it was probably helped by the fact that there was already an
unusual amount of the disease around: there were 3286 cases in 1939, making it the worst
year since 1916. The government therefore embarked on a campaign to ensure that all pig
swill was cooked, and by 1942 the number of cases had dropped to 451, the lowest since
records began. Admittedly, there were fewer pigs than between the wars, but the volume of
swill feeding was much higher.
Foot and mouth was already subject to a slaughter policy, yet was still common in the
UK, having occurred in every year in Britain since 1917. The incidence of disease was on
average higher during the war, but not significantly, except for 1942, which had 670 cases,
the worst year since 1924. On the other hand 1943, with only 27 cases, had the lowest count
