The swine industry is facing its “biggest crisis” in at least 25 years, farmers have warned.
The National Farmers’ Union said 40,000 hogs had to be culled and “discarded” due to a lack of butchers to process them.
Rob Mutimer, chairman of the National Pig Association, said the red tape preventing foreign butchers from entering the country is part of the problem.
The government said it recognized problems and released additional visas.
The meat processing industry spoke of a shortage of around 10,000 butchers.
Part of the problem was caused by Covid, which caused pork markets to dry up, particularly in the Chinese market.
Many butchers were laid off, and those from abroad chose to go home.
But Brexit was also an important factor, as visas and a lot of paperwork are required to get foreign workers back in time.
The government introduced a special visa system last fall, but it only brought in about 100 additional workers.
Mr Mutimer, who runs farms in Swannington near Aylsham, Norfolk, said: “This is the biggest crisis I have seen in the 25 years that I have been in the pig industry.
“There is no doubt that there is a shortage of butchers in Europe.
“But other countries are much better at processing their pigs than we are.
“The main reason is that we put so much bureaucracy into the program to bring butchers into the country and it’s costing too much.”
Simon Watchorn, a hog farmer at Earsham Park Farm in Earsham, Norfolk, said he could send 200 hogs to slaughter each week instead of the normal 300.
“These sows, for example, will eat around 10.5 kg of feed per day. Since we had to hold them for another 14 days, they’ve been eating just over a quarter ton of extra feed a day, and the moment is at an all-time high,” he said.
Victoria Prentis, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We definitely have a serious problem with the pig industry at this time. The problem extends throughout the supply chain.
“We were able to get some extra visas – 800 extra visas.
Politics East airs on BBC One East on Sunday 27 February at 10:00 GMT and can be viewed at BBC iPlayer after that.
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