RSPCA: UK shoppers - pig ignorant?

Monday, 12 January 2009 12:00 AM

Most people are 'pig ignorant' when it comes to food labelling on pork products, according to a new poll commissioned by the RSPCA.

The results reveal only a staggering two per cent of those questioned understand the terms used on pork products such as 'outdoor bred' or 'free range', meaning almost all shoppers are confused about the conditions in which pigs are actually reared.

The RSPCA is today launching its 'Rooting for Pigs' campaign, calling on supermarkets and other UK food retailers to work with it to develop and sign up to a voluntary labelling agreement because there are currently no set definitions for pork product labelling.

"We think it is essential that all pig meat be clearly and consistently labelled to allow consumers to make an informed choice, " said Dr Julia Wrathall, head of RSPCA farm animal science. "This survey shows animal welfare is important to more than eight out of ten people when they're out shopping, even in these hard economic times, and shoppers often seek out specifically-labelled products purely because they want to support certain farming practices"

Dr Wrathall added: "It may come as a surprise but there are actually no industry-wide agreed definitions when it comes to labelling, in complete contrast to eggs and chickens that do have legal definitions at EU level for terms such as 'free range'. We need clearer labelling, and under a system which makes sense to everyone."

Pigs are highly intelligent and inquisitive animals that often outdo dogs in learning tests. They are often rated as the fourth most intelligent animal, behind primates, dolphins and elephants and there are concerns that many of the 160 million pigs reared annually for meat in the EU are raised in conditions that the public would think horrifying if applied to any of these other species.

The RSPCA is now calling on retailers to join with the Society and the British pig industry to develop, and then apply agreed definitions for the terms they use when labelling pork products. The charity is also asking the public to show their support by signing a pig petition on its website: www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk and by buying the highest welfare pork they can afford.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has also been working with the RSPCA, and will lead the debate on pig welfare in his new programme 'Jamie Saves our Bacon' - due to be aired as part of Channel 4's 'Great British Food Fortnight' on 29th January.

Jamie said: "I very much support the RSPCA's 'Rooting For Pigs' campaign as I think that the public needs clearer labelling when it comes to meat, particularly pork and bacon as the variation in pig welfare across Europe and the world is so diverse."

"How many people outside of the industry know the difference between outdoor-bred and
outdoor-reared, for example? Not many," he added.

Other survey findings included:

• 83% agreed or strongly agree that "animal welfare is an important consideration when buying pork".
  
• While more than half (60%) of respondents said they always bought higher welfare pork (RSPCA Freedom Food, free range or organic), nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said they did not because they "didn't know much about how the pigs are reared".
  
• A further 19% said the labelling of pork products was too confusing/ absent to allow them to make an informed choice.

Room for improvement
Later in the year the RSPCA will be calling for a proper review of welfare issues within the EU and UK pig industry and lobbying for a legal requirement within the EU to ensure agreed definitions are complied with when using labelling terms such as free range or outdoor bred/reared on pork products.

"The pig industry has been one of the most proactive of all the UK livestock sectors in seeking ways to progress the health and welfare of the animals it produces, and many UK pigs are reared under good welfare standards throughout their lives," said Dr Wrathall.

"However, even in the UK where the law and industry practices go beyond EU legal requirement in key welfare areas, some pigs are still kept in ways that fail to meet their needs. This means that at the moment, of the nine million pigs raised for meat in the UK each year, there is still a significant number that are living out their lives in unacceptable conditions."

If consumers want to support higher welfare production through their purchases, they should look out for pig meat labelled with the Freedom Food logo, says the RSPCA. Freedom Food is the RSPCA's farm animal welfare assurance scheme which aims to ensure that animals are reared, handled, transported and slaughtered according to welfare standards developed and monitored by the Society.

Pigs 'are the new chickens'
Separate campaigns led by the RSPCA and celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in January 2008 highlighted some of the welfare problems of chicken production. Since then, and despite of the difficult economic climate, higher welfare chicken sales have jumped significantly

In fact an RSPCA poll conducted since the campaign showed that an amazing 73 per cent of consumers said that since recently discovering standard chickens were farmed in poor conditions, they now buy chickens that have had a better life.

It is hoped that Jamie's programme and the RSPCA campaign will have a similarly positive impact on the lives of the many millions of pigs reared for meat in the UK and beyond.

(-ends-)

Notes to editors:

For further information, survey results or spokespeople please contact the RSPCA press office on 0300 123 0244.

Footage and RSPCA provided satellite truck for on-farm filming opportunities also available.

1 The survey was carried out by TNS. Total sample size was 1012 adults. Interviewing was carried out between 19-21 December 2008. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 16+).

2 Supermarkets and a large chicken production company confirmed to the RSPCA that last January's campaigns have changed shopping habits:

• Waitrose said that sales of its Select Farm chicken - which is reared in conditions which exceed the industry's standards - have increased by 15 per cent since the campaign and are still increasing. Its 'free range' chicken sales have increased by 22 per cent and its organic sales have increased by 39 per cent.
  
• Asda said it had increased its stock of 'free range' chicken by 50 per cent by the end of September 2008. It also now stocks 50 per cent more organic chicken and a Freedom Food corn-fed line.
  
• Somerfield said that since the campaigns sales of 'free range' poultry have increased by 50 per cent and sales of higher welfare fresh poultry have increased by 40 per cent. The retailer said sales of higher welfare and 'free range' poultry increased from five per cent of total fresh poultry sales in January to 14 or 15 per cent by December 2008
  
• Marks and Spencer, which stocks Oakham chicken - reared in conditions that exceed the industry's standards - as well as 'free range' and organic, has acknowledged increased chicken sales since the campaigns.
  
• Lloyd Maunder, a large chicken producer in the South West, in January 2008 was producing 75,000 chicken under the Freedom Food scheme each week, which represented 15 per cent of its total output. By August 2008 it was producing 250,000 chicken per week under Freedom Food, which will represent 39 per cent of its total output. That represents a 330 per cent increase in just seven months.

The number of higher welfare chickens bought by consumers in the UK before the campaigns took place had already increased by nearly three times over four years, according to additional figures compiled by the RSPCA:

• The number of birds reared to RSPCA welfare standards under the Freedom Food scheme or other free-range or organic standards has soared from 19 million in 2004 to 55 million in 2007.
  
• In a further encouraging trend, 69 million birds were reared last year to standards which exceed those set by the chicken industry (but do not go far enough to meet the RSPCA's standards).

Shoppers have increasingly been shunning chickens reared to the chicken industry's standards, which the RSPCA believes to be inadequate. Some 849 million birds were reared to industry standards in 2004 compared to 719 million in 2007. That means 61 million birds a year are no longer reared in unacceptable conditions.

Terms such as 'free-range', 'outdoor bred' and 'outdoor reared' are in common use in many supermarkets, but what exactly do they mean in relation to pork products?

Free range
There is no legal definition of 'free range' when it comes to pork. Retailers can label the pork they sell as 'outdoor bred' or 'free range' without providing definitions.
Similarly, imported pig products from production systems that do not conform to UK law and/or common practice are sold alongside UK products in many stores.
Although the perception that keeping livestock outside is best for welfare does not always hold true, free range systems in which pigs are kept throughout their lives outside in paddocks do ensure animals have freedom to move around and express natural behaviours.

Outdoor bred
There is no doubt the term 'outdoor bred' sends out all the right messages to consumers who want to buy pork from pigs free to roam outdoors. However, despite the often held belief that this term means pigs will spend much of their lives living outside, in practice, the term is usually used to label pork from pigs that have only spent the first three or four weeks of their lives in free range systems. 'Outdoor bred' pigs are born outside, and their mothers almost invariably stay outside in paddocks throughout their breeding lives. However, once they have been weaned from their mothers, the piglets are moved into indoor systems, which can vary considerably in terms of the welfare standards they provide.

Outdoor reared
'Outdoor reared' is usually used to describe a system in which the piglets are kept with full access to the outdoors for up to around 10 weeks of age, before being moved to indoor rearing/finishing accommodation. Production of 'outdoor reared' pigs on any commercial scale is relatively rare.

RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS
Press office direct lines: 0300 123 0244/0288 Fax: 0303 123 0099
Duty press officer (evenings and weekends) Tel 0870 0555500 and ask for pager number 828825
Email: press@rspca.org.uk Website: www.rspca.org.uk

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