大象传媒

The crisis in the pig industry: we discuss what the Government is and isn鈥檛 doing about it; and new recommendations on managing short term issues in the labour market.

Only 50 butchers have applied for the 800 temporary visas the Government has made available under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme. These are aimed at alleviating problems in meat processing plants. Pig farmers say their sector is now 'on its knees' and they鈥檝e lost hundreds of millions of pounds. The latest figure from the National Pig Association is that 30,000 healthy pigs have had to be culled as the shortage of butchers means they can鈥檛 be processed.

The Migration Advisory Committee, an independent public body that advises the Government on migration issues, has now weighed in with its annual report released yesterday. It warns against using temporary visa schemes to solve longer term problems.

All this week we're focusing on cheese. When it comes to mozzarella, although much of what you鈥檒l find on UK supermarket shelves is made from cow鈥檚 milk, the traditional cheese is made from buffalo milk. There鈥檙e only a handful of buffalo mozzarella producers in the UK, one being the Buffalo Dairy in Wales.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.