London, Mar 19 : Brit chef Jamie Oliver, 33, has become animals rights group Peta’s target after his flagship restaurant Fifteen promoted British pork.

In his television show investigating pig welfare standards, Oliver had urged people to buy British rather than cheaper pork produced abroad under poorer conditions.

“The answer to saving pigs is not to buy British pork, it''s to go vegetarian,” the Telegraph quoted Peta as arguing.

The celeb chef’s spokesman said that he was a “big supporter” of animal welfare, while his London restaurant ‘Fifteen’ served pork products from “the happiest pigs you can get”.

“They do seem to be protesting against somebody who is trying to help the situation,” he said.

“It’s a slightly odd place for them to be protesting but nonetheless they are welcome to do that. My main concern was that they would get cold.

“In the programme we never said that the British pig farming industry is completely whiter than white, we did a very balanced programme,” he added.

Under a banner reading “Unhappy Mother''s Day for British pigs”, pregnant protesters crouched in crates outside ‘Fifteen’ in north London, in an attempt to show the conditions sows can face before giving birth.

“Peta is asking people to have a heart for animal mums this time of the year and avoid meat that comes from such misery,” Lynzi Waddington, a protester, said.

In Jamie Saves Our Bacon on Channel 4, the chef highlighted factory pig farm conditions in continental Europe, showing the use of sow stalls, where pregnant pigs are kept in cages for up to four months at a time without room to turn. (ANI)