Bringing you the latest news on British products in the supermarkets and other major items of interest about British food; here is our round-up for March.

• Pig farmers are demanding a fair price for British Pork and are urging national retailers to sign up to a voluntary labelling initiative. With rising cereal prices and increased fuel costs, farmers are losing money on every pig produced. So far Morrison's has been praised for their commitment to the supply chain but the industry is urging Tesco and Asda to follow suit in selling British produce rather than relying on cheap imports, which are often produced under far less stringent animal welfare conditions.


• Asda has pledged to work with its suppliers to ensure none of its products will contain egg from battery cages as of next year. All eggs in shell sold by Asda are British, making it relatively easy to verify which rearing systems they come from, but products using liquid egg can be trickier, given EU cross-border trade. Sainsbury's has also pledged that all suppliers will be legally required to use non-battery eggs by 2012.


• KFC is set to become the first fast-food chain to be certified by the Red Tractor assurance scheme. KFC already source their chicken-on-the-bone products from Red Tractor certified British suppliers, but the company itself has until now not been certified.


• The Cornish Pastie has been give 'protected geographical indication' status by the European Commission, joining the 42 other British protected products such as Melton Mowbray pork pies and Arbroath Smokies.  


• Sainbury's has teamed up with Ladies in Beef to help promote the new 'Great British Beef Week' which runs from 29-30 April. The retailer will offer on-pack promotions during this time. 


• When buying British make sure you read the small print as almost a fifth of foods labelled as ‘local' on sale are making the claim falsely, a study by The Local Government Regulation has revealed. Examples include 'Welsh lamb' from New Zealand, 'Somerset butter' from Scotland, and 'Devon ham' from Denmark. Restaurants have the highest incidence of false claims with 19 per cent, while manufacturers had the fewest with 11 per cent.


• Asda and Defra are working with key players in the UK dairy industry to create a new milk roadmap. Dairy 2020 will build on the work of the Dairy Supply Chain Forum's Milk Roadmap – the industry's environmental sustainability strategy - but will also include social and economic sustainability.


• Finally, according to a Tesco survey French food is still the fastest growing cuisine in the UK, with a recent 27 per cent increase in French ready meal sales.  Chinese cuisine is close behind in second place with British cuisine in third.  So come on everyone, buy British! 

Seasonal foods at their best to look out for in the supermarkets this month: 
Vegetables: beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, chicory, cucumber, Jersey Royal new potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions,  parsnips, potatoes (maincrop), purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb, rocket, salsify, shallots, spinach, spring onions, swede and wild nettles.
Herbs: chives, coriander, dill, mushrooms (cultivated), parsley (curly) and sorrel.
Meat: beef, chicken, pork, rabbit, turkey, and wood pigeon.
Fish: cockles, conger eel, crab, dab, dover sole, eel, hake, john dory, lemon sole, lobster, mackerel, mussels, oysters, prawns, salmon, sea trout, scallops, shrimp, skate, whitebait and winkles.

See at the touch of a button all the British produce currently available in the supermarkets - [search Want to Buy British by product or by supermarket].