A SELBY pig producer has called for more volunteers to keep tabs on the proportion of pigmeat sold in local supermarkets which is British.

Fred Henley checks the labelling on pork, bacon and ham products at the Tesco, Morrisons and Somerfield supermarkets in Selby, as part of the National Pig Association's Porkwatch scheme.

The scheme started in 2004, and every two months since, Mr Henley has been noting down whether the meat's country of origin is labelled as British, foreign, or is not specified.

Results are sent to an independent research company, which evaluates progress across the country.

"The idea is to hold the supermarkets to account and to try to promote British products," Mr Henley said.

"Supermarkets sell meat which isn't always clearly labelled. We want all meat clearly labelled so shoppers can choose what they want to buy.

"The proportion of British pigmeat can vary by quite a bit from month to month.

"You talk to the supermarkets and they say they can get it cheaper elsewhere, but the problem with the cheaper imports is they're not produced to the same high standards.

"Nowhere else in the world produces to the same standard as this country, and that costs money."

Mr Henley, who finishes pork at his farm in Seaton Ross, said Selby's supermarkets tended to stock more products carrying the British Quality Standard Mark.

"In Selby, you'd expect it to be better stocked than a supermarket in the middle of Leeds, because it's more of a farming community," he said.

In November, Porkwatch revealed that in Tesco, 84 per cent of fresh pork, 41 per cent of bacon and 29 per cent of ham was British.

Only 40 per cent of Somerfield's fresh pork was labeled as British, and seven per cent of its bacon.

Mr Henley said shoppers often preferred to buy British, but could only do so with clear labelling.

"One of the tricks is to have packaging in red, white and blue, or to use British-sounding names. People should check the country of origin.

"If we can identify our products, then we can promote them properly, which will hopefully push up demand so we can get better prices."

Results are published every two months on the National Pig Association website, www.npa-uk.net.