PIGS
Most supermarkets apart from Waitrose and M&S still need to improve considerably on pig welfare.
Sows and growing pigs have different welfare concerns:
Sows are often confined in sow stalls (gestation crates) when pregnant and farrowing crates to give birth. Sows in stalls and crates cannot turn around or carry out many natural behaviours. Sow stalls are banned in the UK but still used across Europe. ‘Outdoor bred’ means sows give birth in huts outdoors.
Waitrose is the only supermarket sourcing all of its own label fresh pork, bacon and sausages from sows kept in stall and crate-free outdoor systems. M&S is stall and crate-free on fresh pork. For other pigmeat M&S has reduced the use of farrowing-crates since the last survey and plans to phase them out altogether. Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Somerfield still sell own label products from sows kept in sow stalls.
Growing pigs need bedding or material to root and lie in. ‘Outdoor reared’ pigs may have a rich environment to explore. There are also some good indoor systems with bedding. Only Asda and Waitrose ensure all pigs for their fresh pork have bedding. Pigs kept in barren environments often injure each other and as a result many supermarkets are accepting meat from routinely tail-docked and tooth-clipped piglets, even though this is potentially illegal in the EU. Most pigs reared outside the UK are castrated without anaesthetic.
