46 Better Pork June 2016 EYE ON EUROPE A bout 18 months ago, Danish Crown, Denmark’s leading slaughter co-operative, con- tacted five of its 8,000 farmer members and asked them to produce some hogs without antibiotics. At the time, this ap- peared a tall order for the conventional farmers. But the Danish Pig Research Centre (VSP) helped with backup ad- vice, and the slaughterhouse undertook to ensure a bonus for the pioneering producers by seeking out customers willing to pay extra for the special pork. By early 2015, the first signs of suc- cess were there. The labelled meat went straight into the export market. Soon, 200 antibiotic-free hogs were being slaughtered every week, many of the carcasses and joints heading straight for the U.S. market. The latest news in spring 2016 is that the weekly slaughter total is to be increased tenfold to 2,000 per week. Right from the start, the planners set out to avoid any accusations that hogs might suffer from the withholding of any antibiotic treatments. All non- antibiotic hogs are marked by an extra green earmark. If medicine has to be given to these hogs, the green earmark is immediately removed and the animal is treated and then marketed with con- ventionally raised hogs. Jesper Friis, Danish Crown’s CEO, explains that the co-operative set out to involve both weaner producers and hog Antibiotic-free pork from Denmark well received in USA Rapid success in export markets has crowned a scheme to get commercial hog farmers involved in pork produced with no antibiotics from birth to slaughter by NORMAN DUNN