Italian grocery retailer Coop has announced that is introducing pork into its stores that is bred without the use of antibiotics.
The pork products will be sold under the retailer’s 'Fior Fiore' private label brand, sourced from over 3,000 pigs bred on two Tuscan farms in Chianti and Maremma, guaranteeing a high quality of meat.
According to Coop’s Maura Latini, the production chain is particularly complex, so the retailer is first setting a reduced target, with meat that has been bred without the use of antibiotics in the last four months.
She said that the retailer's long-term campaign will affect more than 14 million animals each year and over 1,600 farms in Italy, improving the health of consumers.
Growing Campaign
Coop Italia launched the 'Alleviamo la salute' campaign in collaboration with the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali (Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies), five months ago. It aims to introduce a greater number of meat and eggs from animals that have been reared without the use of antibiotics.
In April, a new line of chicken bred without antibiotics arrived on the butcher's counter, and at the end of June, for the first time in Italy, Coop-branded antibiotic-free eggs were introduced into stores.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
