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Danish Bacon
Danish Bacon is a brand under which Danish bacon is sold in the United Kingdom. The product has "Danish" stamped on the rind between wavy lines. The Danish farmers producing Danish Bacon and their co-operatives were represented by Danske Slagterier, whose UK subsidiary was the Danish Bacon and Meat Council. Danske Slagterier was absorbed into a Danish agricultural umbrella organisation in 2009. The majority of Danish bacon is produced through the farmer-owned co-operative Danish Crown. The co-operative system has low costs because of the scale (25 million pigs per year) and the elimination of the need for markets. Most of the production is for export.
Danish pig exports started to the UK in the mid-19th century when exporting to Germany became difficult and have grown ever since despite attempts by UK domestic producers and other importers to compete. They have not been able to keep pace with Danish modernisation of the curing process and increasing centralisation.
Denmark now concentrates on pig production and has moved bacon curing and packing to other countries. Such bacon is sold as Danish, somewhat controversially, even within Denmark itself. Pigs for the UK market were reared separately to a UK specification, mostly because of UK concerns over pig welfare in Denmark. This separation ceased following the EU-wide phasing out of sow stalls in 2013.
Most Danish pig farms are members of one of two large farmer-owned co-operatives which account for 95% of pigs slaughtered. The largest of these is Danish Crown, which alone accounts for 90%. All export is through these two co-operatives. A number of smaller slaughterhouses operate outside this system for domestic supply, but none have a licence to export. Costs are high in Denmark and the industry there is highly regulated, but the country has nevertheless developed a competitive advantage through large-scale integrated organisation by its co-operatives. There are no markets or auctions in this system. Prices are set on a weekly basis by a committee of Danske Slagterier, thus making a large saving on transportation costs as there is less need to move animals around.
About 25 million pigs are slaughtered per year, which is 5 pigs for every Dane. Pig production is still increasing. Pig production grew from 17.7 million to 21.4 million in the decade up to 2002 and reached 24.7 million in 2004. Future growth is planned at 2% per year. 75% of this production goes to export.
In the 19th century, Denmark's main food export was grain to the UK, but it was outcompeted by the United States and Russia and began to switch to pigs and butter from dairy herds. English Large White pigs were exported to Denmark in the early nineteenth century. From 1840 to 1870 grain was almost half of Denmark's exports, but by 1900 this had fallen to under 3 per cent. Denmark exported bacon to the United Kingdom from at least 1847, when flitches of bacon were specially prepared for the English market, but had no large-scale production until 1864, when the Second Schleswig War made export of live pigs to Hamburg, where up to then they had been slaughtered and cured, impossible and Denmark was forced to do this locally. However, export to the UK only became significant after Germany, to whom Denmark had been exporting since the Middle Ages, erected trade barriers to (1879), and finally banned (1887), the import of live pigs. The lost German market amounted to almost 300,000 pigs per year and Denmark desperately needed to find a new market. The Danish imports were welcomed in the UK; the growth in population following the Industrial Revolution meant that the country was no longer self-sufficient in food, but there was an increasing demand from a more affluent working class. The pig population grew from 442,441 in 1871 to nearly 2.5 million in 1914.
At the time, British workers on average pay consumed bacon two to three times a week, and bacon and eggs became the traditional British breakfast. This had previously been quite unaffordable for the working class. By the end of the 19th century, 90% of Danish pig exports went to the UK and accounted for 20% of total Danish exports. This made Denmark the main supplier to the UK, replacing the U.S. which previously held that position. Danish Bacon still had more than 25% of the UK market in the 1980s.
The first Danish farmer-owned co-operative bacon factory was established in 1887. There were soon more, and by 1897 there were dozens. By 1900 the co-operatives outnumbered private enterprises. By this time the export of live pigs had almost ceased, being replaced by export of pork and bacon. There followed intense competition between the co-operatives and private producers, with the co-operatives eventually winning out. The co-operatives had competition from foreign investors as well as indigenous enterprises. The first of these was I. D. Koopmann of Hamburg, who bought and opened new bacon factories in order to get around the German ban on live pigs. Koopmann refused to do business with the co-operatives, calling the movement "a sick idea". They worked closely with Denny & Co. of London—the Denny family were a major bacon manufacturer in Ireland and between them they controlled a large portion of the UK market.
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Danish Bacon
Danish Bacon is a brand under which Danish bacon is sold in the United Kingdom. The product has "Danish" stamped on the rind between wavy lines. The Danish farmers producing Danish Bacon and their co-operatives were represented by Danske Slagterier, whose UK subsidiary was the Danish Bacon and Meat Council. Danske Slagterier was absorbed into a Danish agricultural umbrella organisation in 2009. The majority of Danish bacon is produced through the farmer-owned co-operative Danish Crown. The co-operative system has low costs because of the scale (25 million pigs per year) and the elimination of the need for markets. Most of the production is for export.
Danish pig exports started to the UK in the mid-19th century when exporting to Germany became difficult and have grown ever since despite attempts by UK domestic producers and other importers to compete. They have not been able to keep pace with Danish modernisation of the curing process and increasing centralisation.
Denmark now concentrates on pig production and has moved bacon curing and packing to other countries. Such bacon is sold as Danish, somewhat controversially, even within Denmark itself. Pigs for the UK market were reared separately to a UK specification, mostly because of UK concerns over pig welfare in Denmark. This separation ceased following the EU-wide phasing out of sow stalls in 2013.
Most Danish pig farms are members of one of two large farmer-owned co-operatives which account for 95% of pigs slaughtered. The largest of these is Danish Crown, which alone accounts for 90%. All export is through these two co-operatives. A number of smaller slaughterhouses operate outside this system for domestic supply, but none have a licence to export. Costs are high in Denmark and the industry there is highly regulated, but the country has nevertheless developed a competitive advantage through large-scale integrated organisation by its co-operatives. There are no markets or auctions in this system. Prices are set on a weekly basis by a committee of Danske Slagterier, thus making a large saving on transportation costs as there is less need to move animals around.
About 25 million pigs are slaughtered per year, which is 5 pigs for every Dane. Pig production is still increasing. Pig production grew from 17.7 million to 21.4 million in the decade up to 2002 and reached 24.7 million in 2004. Future growth is planned at 2% per year. 75% of this production goes to export.
In the 19th century, Denmark's main food export was grain to the UK, but it was outcompeted by the United States and Russia and began to switch to pigs and butter from dairy herds. English Large White pigs were exported to Denmark in the early nineteenth century. From 1840 to 1870 grain was almost half of Denmark's exports, but by 1900 this had fallen to under 3 per cent. Denmark exported bacon to the United Kingdom from at least 1847, when flitches of bacon were specially prepared for the English market, but had no large-scale production until 1864, when the Second Schleswig War made export of live pigs to Hamburg, where up to then they had been slaughtered and cured, impossible and Denmark was forced to do this locally. However, export to the UK only became significant after Germany, to whom Denmark had been exporting since the Middle Ages, erected trade barriers to (1879), and finally banned (1887), the import of live pigs. The lost German market amounted to almost 300,000 pigs per year and Denmark desperately needed to find a new market. The Danish imports were welcomed in the UK; the growth in population following the Industrial Revolution meant that the country was no longer self-sufficient in food, but there was an increasing demand from a more affluent working class. The pig population grew from 442,441 in 1871 to nearly 2.5 million in 1914.
At the time, British workers on average pay consumed bacon two to three times a week, and bacon and eggs became the traditional British breakfast. This had previously been quite unaffordable for the working class. By the end of the 19th century, 90% of Danish pig exports went to the UK and accounted for 20% of total Danish exports. This made Denmark the main supplier to the UK, replacing the U.S. which previously held that position. Danish Bacon still had more than 25% of the UK market in the 1980s.
The first Danish farmer-owned co-operative bacon factory was established in 1887. There were soon more, and by 1897 there were dozens. By 1900 the co-operatives outnumbered private enterprises. By this time the export of live pigs had almost ceased, being replaced by export of pork and bacon. There followed intense competition between the co-operatives and private producers, with the co-operatives eventually winning out. The co-operatives had competition from foreign investors as well as indigenous enterprises. The first of these was I. D. Koopmann of Hamburg, who bought and opened new bacon factories in order to get around the German ban on live pigs. Koopmann refused to do business with the co-operatives, calling the movement "a sick idea". They worked closely with Denny & Co. of London—the Denny family were a major bacon manufacturer in Ireland and between them they controlled a large portion of the UK market.
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