Shopping guide for pork
Whether you are looking for cuts of pork, sausages, bacon or cooked ham - by choosing high welfare products such as those labelled Freedom Food, you are directly helping to improve the lives of farm animals.
What to look for when buying pork
The Freedom Food logo can be found on pork products in many major supermarkets – check your preferred retailer on our Where to Buy guide here. Whatever the farming system you can be assured that all products labelled Freedom Food come from farms approved by us to strict RSPCA welfare standards.
What do the different systems mean?
Free range – these pigs are born outside, in fields, and remain there until processing with bedded huts for shelter.
Outdoor bred – born outside, transferred to indoor accommodation at weaning (approximately four weeks of age).
Indoor – if you can’t see a rearing system on your product chances are it is indoor reared. Good welfare can be achieved in indoor farms if the farm conforms to RSPCA welfare standards. Unfortunately if it doesn’t say Freedom Food, it’s unlikely that it does.
New research has shown that there has been an increase in Freedom Food pork sales by 62% last year compared to 2009 and looks set to continue rising with a 116% increase in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the first quarter of 2010. This is great news and shows us that pig welfare is still firmly on people’s shopping list. By purchasing high welfare products you have the power to directly impact the lives of pigs.
Freedom Food Pork
Freedom Food pigs must be given more space, a solid floor lying area, and enrichment (e.g. straw) as specified within the RSPCA’S strict welfare standards.
In all farming systems – both indoor and outdoor – these standards include good ventilation for appropriate temperatures, enough space to explore, exercise, play and rest, appropriate lighting when indoors, shelter from weather, material such as straw for rooting, and mud pools when outdoors. The use of farrowing crates will cease in 2013 for existing members and can only be used for up to 5 days after farrowing until then. These crates are used to protect mothers (sows) from squashing her piglets for up to five weeks after birthing (farrowing) but they restrict her movements and natural behaviour and may not be used by new members. New research is demonstrating that indoor farrowing systems in which the sow is loose (i.e. not crated) can provide comparable results in terms of levels of piglet mortality, without needing to confine the sow.