Over the weekend, horrific and violent footage from inside a major pig farm revealed the full extremes of the bad treatment animals can be subjected to inside some of the nation’s biggest farms.
The footage, captured at Northmoor Farm in Lincolnshire (operated by Cranswick-owned Elsham Linc) by animal welfare organisation Animal Justice Project revealed an extensive array of alleged abuses which made for grim watching. It covers off everything from “thumping”, an illegal method of killing pigs, to mutilations, violent abuse and animal neglect.
In the aftermath of this footage coming to light, barrister Ayesha Smart filed a formal complaint to Trading Standards, citing multiple breaches of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 (WATOK) and consumer law.
“The use of blunt force trauma to kill piglets is banned – yet it appears to be used routinely and without restraint,” said Smart. “This isn’t just shocking, it’s unlawful.”
Meanwhile, the major supermarkets supplied by the site – Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – have all suspended their supply from the farm, while Cranswick carries out an investigation into what went wrong.
‘This isn’t just shocking, it’s unlawful’
“The welfare of the animals we rear is of the utmost importance and we are extremely disappointed to see the unacceptable lapse of welfare standards captured at Northmoor Farm,” said a spokesperson. “As soon as we saw the footage, we immediately suspended the team working at the farm and we are conducting an urgent and thorough investigation.
“We have also suspended the farm from supplying any pigs until the investigation is completed.”
However, regardless of the swift and thorough action taken by the nation’s biggest pork supplier, it is not a good look, especially in light of its welfare-boosting deal with Sainsbury’s, which was announced in March.
As part of the exclusive 10-year supply deal, Cranswick pledged £11m to help build new sheds and housing for pigs on top of the £50m invested by Sainsbury’s to implement new standards by 2030. But clearly this issue goes beyond just sheds and housing.
The attitudes of staff were laid bare in the recording with one saying “don’t let nobody see you doing like what we did”, while pigs and piglets were kicked, scratched, kneed, jabbed and beaten with metal bars and shovels.
Animal Justice Project described the comments as “disturbing”, as they indicated the staff abusing the animals had a clear awareness of their deliberate wrongdoing, making their actions more harrowing than if it they were accidental or infrequent.
Too little, too late
The scale of the abuse at this site is extreme, but sadly reports of this kind in the meat supply chain are not unusual. Over the past year, The Grocer has reported frequently on animal rights complaints in farms of all kinds from salmon to chickens, pigs to cattle.
The frequency and extremity of these undercover investigations suggests that campaigners are only just scratching the surface, with far more abuse taking place behind the scenes. And if this is happening at one of the UK’s biggest meat suppliers, with all the standards and regulations that come with that, what on earth is going on elsewhere?
While the claims may be different, the response is typically the same, with the companies and assurance schemes involved suspending the farm and carrying out investigations in response.
But isn’t that all just too little, too late? We should not be reaching a point that piglets are routinely being swung by their legs and slammed against concrete or mutilated in the process of food production.
What is clear is that action needs to be taken, and it must happen more quickly and more proactively. The onus is on the meat companies, assurance schemes and supermarkets to do more, faster, especially if they are claiming to sell a higher-welfare product.
It is not good enough to be merely ‘taking action’ in response to news of this violent abuse. It must not be allowed to happen in the first place.
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