The ending of the castration of male pigs in the Netherlands does not seem to influence the consumption of pork. The consumption has continued to follow European trends, even since 50 percent of the pigs in the Netherlands are no longer castrated. A study conducted by researchers from LEI at Wageningen UR compared developments in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Meat consumption is decreasing across Europe. The Dutch consumption figures parellel the general trend. In relative terms, beef consumption has decreased more than the consumption of pork.
In many European countries market players are of the opinion that ending the castration of piglets would lead to a decrease in the consumption of pork, because consumers supposedly would not want boar meat. The researchers concluded that current consumption data do not indicate that pork consumption has decreased as a result of the increase of boar meat.
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Addition information can be obtained from Dr Gé Backus,