Published 28/11/2007

Fast-food giant Burger King has announced that it's Dutch outlets will not be serving bacon from pigs castrated without an anaesthetic from 1 January 2008.

This follows moves from McDonald's and supermarkets in the Netherlands, the latter committing to cease the sale of meat from pigs that have been castrated from 2009.

Compassion in World Farming - Netherlands has been campaigning for a long time in the Netherlands against castration of pigs. Geert Laugs, Director of Compassion in World Farming - Netherlands said: "We are delighted to hear that, following consumer pressure, Burger King is taking this important step. This, together with similar moves by other companies, will be of great support for our campaign for a ban of castration of piglets throughout the European Union."

Earlier this month, a motion to completely ban castration of pigs without an anaesthetic was denied in the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer). In total, about 10 million piglets are castrated in the Netherlands on a yearly basis.

Check out more information from the Netherlands (Dutch version).