The Pig Business Blog

We’ve been keeping an ear to the ground around the Foston pig farm plans. Here’s the latest:

The good news. Plans to build what would become the largest pig breeding unit in the UK have received over a thousand objections from neighbours to the proposed site and other concerned individuals. This led to an extension of the consultation and further publicity for the cause.

The bad news. South Derbyshire planning department has since asked Midland Pig Producers to resubmit their application, delaying the decision and meaning new objections will need to be made at a later date. We will be in touch to build momentum again when the time is right.

Pig Business has armed the residents of Foston, Derbyshire with copies of the film, and written to the planning committee members as part of our campaign to end factory farming. Read our news release below

N.B. Pig Business opposes the plans on the grounds that factory farms of this size pose a health threat to workers and residents, and that to set a precedent of allowing such factories in the UK is a step in the wrong direction. We believe that the key to a sustainable farming future is to work with, not against nature; to strengthen the connection between people and their food; to support local, small scale, independent, high welfare, low impact farming.

If you haven’t yet heard of Foston, please read on. If granted planning, the 2,500 sow breeding unit proposed by Midland Pig Producers in Foston will be the largest of its kind in the UK. Pig Business believes that small is beautiful and no matter how much greenwash is sprayed around, a factory farm is still a factory farm; large farms outcompete smaller traditional farms and are a potential breeding ground for disease. If you feel the same way, please spread the word and register an objection on South Derbyshire’s planning pages (http://sddc.planning-proposals.co.uk/ApplicationDetail.aspx).

Here’s our latest press release on the subject:

NEWS RELEASE

MARCHIONESS BECOMES LATEST CRITIC IN THE ‘NOT SO PRIVATE LIFE OF PIGS’ FACTORY FARM PLANNING DISPUTE.

Last week’s edition of the BBC’s ‘Private Life of Pigs’ with Jimmy Doherty presented pigs as the incredibly intelligent, social and sentient creatures that like nothing more than to root in the soil, a bit of fresh air and freedom to move.

Putting the spotlight on pigs in this way is, however, poles apart from the reality of how the majority of Britain’s pigs are reared in the nation’s factory farms. In order to compete with cheap imports, UK pig farmers have been forced to intensify production. Dark windowless sheds, where thousands of pigs are crammed into barren, concrete pens or forced to lie on straw less plastic or metal slats, is typical of the short life a British factory farmed pig experiences. Their lives are indeed private, for many factory farmers do not welcome public visits.

Not content with cramming 10,000 pigs onto a factory farm, a new US style, super sized factory farm is seeking planning permission to produce 50,000 pigs a year in South Derbyshire, which if successful will be Britain’s biggest factory pig farm.

The farm’s proposed greenfield site at Foston is adjacent to both a women’s prison and a number of residents. Whilst the prison authorities have remained tight lipped on the proposal, residents certainly haven’t and not only have they organised several local actions but, with NGO support, they have inundated the local council’s planning committee with letters of objection, successfully delaying judgement day for perhaps a few more months.

The latest opponent to voice her opposition to the proposal is the Marchioness of Worcester – aristocrat, filmmaker, supporter of sustainable farming and fierce critic of factory farming.

Better known as Tracy Worcester, she produced the film Pig Business, which exposed the damaging consequences factory pig farming can have on the world.

Following several trips to Poland and the USA she is an eye witness to the horrors of factory pig farming on the pigs themselves and on local people. Whilst there she visited several small communities, just like Foston, which have been dwarfed by huge, new pig factory farm developments. In these communities she concluded that these super-sized farms were bad for small-scale farmers, polluting to the environment, harmful to human health and detrimental to animal welfare. The net result was people, animals and the planet suffering from this style of industrial farming.

Tracy and the team at Pig Business believe the Foston application is a factory farm too far and are opposing the application. Whilst the plans have incorporated some new improvements for animal welfare and the environment, overall the proposal remains a factory farm, where thousands of pigs will spend their entire lives in an indoor, artificial environment.

Of most concern for Pig Business, is what this project could mean for human health and local farmers.

Having that number of pigs housed on one place, will increase the level of disease on the holding and, over time, is likely to pose a threat to the local community at the very least. While it may be true that the diseases found would not themselves spread through the air, it has been shown that antibiotic resistant bacteria from intensive farms can be spread from ventilator outlets by air currents to people living several hundred meters away. They can also pass to people in cars (even with the windows shut) when they have to travel behind lorries transporting such animals to other farms or to abattoirs, along both country roads and motorways. Antibiotic diseases, like the pig strain of MRSA, are a growing problem in countries that have these vast pig factories. So far, only 4 cases have been reported in the UK.

The fact that such a large farm could replace a significant number of cheap imported pork products, could be a red herring. It’s probable that a farm of this size (supported by both direct and indirect subsidies) will simply have a competitive advantage over most existing UK pig farms. As opposed to outcompeting Dutch, Danish, Polish or German producers, this system will create a fresh round of bankruptcies amongst pig farms, which just a few years ago would have themselves been considered large.

This would then create a situation where UK pig farmers will have to find a way of upgrading their farms to at least as big and mechanized as the one proposed in Foston.

Pig Business believes it’s vital these smaller farmers should be retained in the industry because some of them have the potential to change to free-range  labour intensive systems, whereas enterprises of this scale never could.

The Marchioness of Worcester says, “Britain’s livestock farmers must resist the government, banks, supermarket and other corporate lobby’s rhetoric of green wash to super size their farms to US style operations. These aren’t farms, they are factories and whilst they can bring cheap food at the supermarket till, the costs of producing food in this manner are externalized on to the broader community, namely; the health of local farmers, residents and beyond, poor animal welfare, economic viability of small-scale farmers and local economies and a degraded environment.. Now the private lives of pigs have become public knowledge, so too must the plans for super sized pig factory farms”.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact Tracy at Pig Business on Tel: 0207 584 6592 or 078 909 717 21. www.pigbusiness.co.uk

Notes for Editors

The film PIG BUSINESS, has exposed the damaging consequences factory pig farming can have on the world. Tracy began her four-year journey in the UK, where she discovered that supermarket labels said nothing about the welfare of pigs. Journeying to Poland she found the controversial foreign-owned super-farms mistreating animals, damaging the environment, poisoning workers and neighbours, and destroying rural communities.  In the USA she met Robert Kennedy Jr. who explained how the corporations that own the factory farms influence local politicians and dominate markets and how they have brought ruin to thousands of small, sustainable farms. In Brazil we heard protests that the rich world’s need for animal feed has been provided cheaply at the cost of cleared rainforest and evicted farmers.

In the feature-length film there are interviews with farmers, politicians, giant corporations, bank leaders and environmental experts. It also includes footage of heart breaking animal suffering. It warns that multinational businesses are increasing their market share aided by taxpayers’ funds for their self-serving business model which produces inferior meat at an enormous cost to pigs, people, democracy and the planet. In the UK, More 4 has aired the film twice, despite letters from the world’s largest pig producer threatening to sue if the film was broadcast. It has also been shown in the UK Parliament where over 100 MPs have pledged their support for change. It is currently being shown across the world and can be viewed at:

3 minuteTrailer: http://www.pigbusiness.co.uk/the_film/

Full version:http://www.youtube.com/user/PigBusinessFilm#p/c/0/cz1_knWUpVk

The proposal for the Foston pig factory farm can be found here: http://www.mppfoston.com/ and is being considered under planning application number 9/2010/0311 by the planning committee of South Derbyshire District Council http://www.south-derbys.gov.uk/planning_and_building_control/

Pig Business is now offering a 30min educational version of the film and teaching toolkits for schools via TV Choice. If you are a teacher, a parent or guardian who would like to see the film used in schools to address encourage debate and learning about the issues it raises, please contact schools@pigbusiness.co.uk for more information.

Pig Business – Food Debate Toolkit for Key Stages 3&4

What’s in the sausages on our supermarket shelves? How has farming changed over the last 20 years? What are the true costs of cheap pork? The film Pig Business charts the rise of the factory farm in the USA and takes viewers on a journey from the giant pig factories in Poland to the pork on our plates, answering the questions above. After the success of our feature documentary we are now offering you a 30 minute educational version of the film and a toolkit to inspire students to engage with current debates in food and farming. Meeting workers, residents and small farmers along the way, filmmaker and presenter Tracy Worcester brings to life the issues of corporate power in a globalised food system, environmental pollution from intensive agriculture, the ethics of animal welfare and the effects of intensification on rural communities at home and abroad. Pig Business complements the curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 in the following areas: English – Speaking; listening; group discussion and interaction Geography – Geographical enquiry and skill; knowledge and understanding of places Citizenship – Democracy and justice; critical thinking and enquiry; advocacy and representation The film and materials stimulate interest and enquiry into: The globalisation of our food system: how and where pork is produced The impact of factory farming on small farmers, human health, animal welfare and the environment The role of individuals as citizens and consumers as well as other stakeholders in the future of farming If you would like use this film and educational pack as a resource to support your teaching in the next academic year, please contact us on schools@pigbusiness.co.uk or 0207 584 6592. You can also watch the full version of the film for free on our website www.pigbusiness.co.uk Kind regards, Alex Collings UK Outreach Coordinator Educational Pack: 30 minute DVD made specifically for schools Supporting literature Stop-the-film tests Worksheets General questions Discussion questions Suitable for: Key stage 3 & 4 Citizenship Key stage 3 & 4  English Key stage 3 & 4 Geography Endorsements: Jamie Oliver: “I think Pig Business is an extremely important programme” Stephen Fry: The film is strong and no nonsense in it – really good and wonderfully judged.” Zac Goldsmith: “This powerful film reveals the full impact of factory farming on people and the global environment” Contact us:Pig Business 0207 584 6592 schools@pigbusiness.co.uk www.pigbusiness.co.uk

Urgent action: Sign the above petition in opposition to the planned 2,500 sow unit (holding around 20,000 piglets) in Foston, Derbyshire. Deadline TODAY 30th June.

Revealed: How ‘zero-grazing’ is set to bring US-style factory farming to Britain

25th June 2010

Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/new-battle-of-britain-as-plans-for-factory-farm-revolution-looms-2010107.html

Intensive farming methods are still on the agenda within the pork industry and there still remain those such as Midland Pig Producers that intend to use these methods to rear pork for human consumption.

It saddens us to hear that they have put plans in motion for a 26,000 intensive pig farm on the outskirts of the village of Foston in Derbyshire.

We hope that you will join us in opposing this development – we don’t have much time 30th June 2010 to make a difference – please help.

The application is lodged with South Derbyshire District Council – further details are at the end of this post.

Issues that will be considered are environmental issues, waste concerns, pollution from construction, damage to the surrounding area, trees and plants, transport, human health – disease outbreaks/vermin, noise pollution, impact on the local wildlife and species from the development.

If you have seen Pig Business you will understand that many of these issues are often affected in a very detrimental way by intensive pig farming. We ask that you please offer your support by objecting to this application and spreading the word to other citizens in the UK.

For further information and on how to log your objection please follow this link

Please do act and many thanks from Pig Business.

Planning Application 9/2010/0311 – Foston pig farm

South Derbyshire District Council
Planning Services
Civic Offices
Civic Way
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE11 0AH

It’s time for some more tasty ideas from Dave our Gourmet Guy in Ireland. This time he’s written a guest blog to accompany his recipe for the perfect pork chop.. and if you like the sound of it, follow Dave on Twitter!

We’ve all done it, felt good about ourselves while strolling by the cheap, brutally reared chickens in the supermarket on the way to a celestially lit fridge housing the free range birds. Such is the level of chicken welfare one-upmanship that has gripped the nation that free range is no longer enough, nor is organic or corn fed for that matter. We want chickens that have lived wonferfully full lives, who enjoyed reading the great novels of our time, regular theatre visits, weekly pilates classes and a leisurely cycling holiday in the Swiss Alps before departing from this world in the best of care at the Dignitas Clinic.

We can then simply pick up some cheap pork from animals kept in such appalling conditions that there are battery hens having a bake sale to try and help.

The worst thing about cheap pork is it comes with an excuse. People claim they only know how to cook a loin or leg or another prime cut and can’t afford to buy those cuts from an ethically farmed animal. The fact is that if you can cook one part of an animal, you can cook the rest, or at least you will be able to once I am done with you. Thats what I want to do. Teach you that cheap cuts doesn’t mean cheap food. Far from it, I will show you that these cuts can in fact produce better tasting meals than the so called prime cuts.

If you can learn to create great meals from an animal that has enjoyed a good standard of life then everyone’s a winner. You dont have to engage in the sort of spending that would make Elton John wince to produce excellent meals that suit all tastes and culinary skill levels.

Just like with chickens it is the ground swell of public opinion that will change producers and retailers practices. People currently simply dont see livestock as endangered species but the fact is that it would be more morally correct to eat a panda burger than some of the rare breeds who’s numbers are dangerously close to extinction. Removing the pressure that farmers are under to produce meat to a very low price is the best means of helping these breeds recover.

So check out the recipe using some nice sholder chops from a happy go lucky free range pig and enjoy.

Pork Shoulder Chops in tomato sauce

What you will need

1 shoulder chop per person

2tbs of flour

2tsp of paprika

1tsp of chilli powder (mild or hot depending on taste)

1tsp of dried oregano

1 egg

½ glass of milk

1 large onion (roughly chopped)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 large green pepper (roughly chopped)

1 can of peeled chopped tomatoes

½ pint of chicken stock

½ glass of white wine

2tbs of red wine vinegar

1tbs of grain mustard.

Method

Mix together the flour, chilli powder, paprika and oregano on a plate with some salt and pepper. Whisk the egg and milk together in a bowl. Now dip the chops in the egg wash, drain off the excess and coat well with the flour mixture.

Now heat some oil in a frying pan, use one with a lid as you are going to need it. Brown the chops well on both sides, remove them from the pan and place them on a warm plate. Add the onions and garlic and cooked them for a few minutes before adding the peppers. Now add the chicken stock, wine, vinegar, tomatoes and grain mustar and stir well. Return the chops to the pan, cover with a lid and cook on a moderate heat for 40mins. Serve with rice or mash.

PIG BUSINESS PRESS STATEMENT

NEW PIG LABELLING SCHEME FAILS TO TELL THE STORY OF FACTORY FARMED PIGS.

Pig Business welcomes any initiative that seeks to give the public clear and honest information about how their food is produced, but we are disappointed that the new voluntary code of practice on pig meat labelling fails to include labelling for pork, which comes from intensive, indoor systems. The bulk of pork sold on Britain’s supermarket shelves still originates from factory farms and cheap pork continues to flood in from the EU and beyond where welfare standards are lower than in the UK.

The past few years has seen the British public show a much greater interest in learning about where the food they buy comes from and in what systems the animals have been reared. Information on product labelling concerning animal welfare is becoming of greater interest, so to introduce a product labelling scheme that ignores intensively produced pork is falling well short of what is expected from a scheme like this. Schemes such as Pork Provenance should be seeking to provide labelling information across the entire range of pork products so the public can make an informed choice for themselves about whether to buy a product or not.

While Pig Business supports British farmers, we also feel that consumers should know that a significant proportion of the pork produced in the UK comes from factory farms and until the Pork Provenance scheme covers all production methods we will not fully endorse the scheme.

Founder of Pig Business, The Marchioness of Worcester says: “The Pork Provenance labelling scheme has the potential to be a really important scheme but by only issuing product labelling for roughly 3 out of every 10 pigs that find themselves on Britain’s supermarket shelves, it’s fallen well short of what’s expected from a certification scheme. Consumers will be none the wiser when it comes to gleaning information on the method of production for factory farmed pork, but then it tends to be a highly secretive industry, which isn’t keen for prying public eyes to bear witness too”.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact the Pig Business team on Tel: 0207 5846 592.

Notes for Editors:

Pig Business is a film and a campaign which informs citizens, industry and policy makers about the needless damage and suffering that intensive agriculture inflicts on people, pigs and planet. We believe that the key to a sustainable farming future is to work with, not against nature; to strengthen the connection between people and their food; and to support local, small scale, independent democratic food systems with high welfare, low impact farming. www.pigbusiness.co.uk

The new voluntary code of practice for the labelling of pork and pork products has been launched today through www.porkprovenance.co.uk and is overseen by BPEX as part of a Pig taskforce initiative.

Whilst British farms do not use sow stalls and rarely castrate piglets, however tooth clipping and tail docking are all too common in the UK and up to a third of pigs are kept without bedding material. In this situation, we are calling for mandatory method of production labelling, akin to the way that eggs from caged hens are labelled.

The film PIG BUSINESS, exposes how factory pig farming is causing damage across the world. Tracy started her four-year journey in the UK, where she discovers that supermarket labels say nothing about the welfare of pigs. Journeying to Poland she finds the controversial foreign-owned super-farms mistreating animals, damaging the environment, poisoning workers and neighbours, and destroying rural communities.  In the USA she meets Robert Kennedy Jr. who tells her how the corporations that own the factory farms influence local politicians and dominate markets and how they have brought ruin to thousands of small, sustainable farms. In Brazil we hear protests that the rich world’s need for animal feed has been provided cheaply at the cost of cleared rainforest and evicted farmers.

In the feature-length film there are interviews with farmers, politicians, corporate and bank leaders and environmental experts and it includes footage of heart breaking animal suffering. It warns that multinational businesses are increasing their market share aided by taxpayers’ funds for their self-serving business model which produces inferior meat at an enormous cost to pigs, people, democracy and the planet. In the UK, More 4 aired the film twice, despite letters from the world’s largest pig producer threatening to sue if the film was broadcast. It was shown at the UK Parliament and over 100 MPs pledged their support. It is currently being shown across the world and can be viewed for free via the web page; pigbusiness.co.uk

Tracy Worcester and Zac Goldsmith introduce Pig Business to the House of Commons

By Alastair Kenneil. Saturday, 8 May 2010

from http://pigbusiness.blogspot.com/

When you watch Tracy Worcester’s documentary Pig Business you will see that much of the pork we eat in this country is produced in Europe by corporate- owned factory farms which abuse the animals, poison people and the environment and destroy rural communities. Huge transnational corporations set up their factories in countries with the lowest animal welfare standards, the lowest labour costs and the lowest environmental regulations. Banks support them with loans and they benefit from agribusiness subsidies provided by the EU at the expense of small family farms and rural communities.

In many EU countries these standards are lower than are allowed in the UK, where sow stalls have been banned since 1999. Yet under the EU free trade agreements, wholesalers are allowed to import pork into this country which has been raised in conditions which would be illegal in the UK. This means that many of our small scale pig farmers, producing wholesome meat raised humanely on outdoor farms, have been put out out of business because they cannot compete in this skewed market.

Sow stalls, illegal in the UK

Factory produced pigmeat, provided by animals whose lives are spent in abject misery, confined permanently in steel cages with bare concrete floors in which they cannot turn around, is sold as a commodity on the European market, bought by the processors of ham, bacon and sausages, and offered for sale in every corner shop and supermarket in the UK.

It is surely one of the most shocking absurdities of the so-called free European market that our government cannot or does not protect our own farmers from being overwhelmed by this unfair competition.

David Cameron couldn’t have put it better when he said we shouldn’t be importing meat raised below UK welfare standards just as we don’t import cars that fall below our safety standards.

In Eastern Europe, Poland and Romania have been subjected to the onslaught of corporate factory farming , as has Mexico where Swine Flu emerged a few kilometres downwind from a huge pig factory jointly owned by US giant Smithfield Foods, the biggest pork producer in the world. In Poland, factory farm workers and neighbours, including schoolchildren, are sickened by the toxic stench from their factories, one of which is situated only 200 metres from a village.

Robert Kennedy Jr, who visited Poland many times to warn of the impending disaster, describes the spread of factory farms in the US as a catastrophe, and says in the film, ‘they cannot produce a pig cheaper than a family farmer without breaking the law’.
He has campaigned for many years against the spread of factory farming, and founded Waterkeeper Alliance to monitor pollution. In 2001 he filed a court case against Smithfield and obtained a settlement in which they undertook to improve pollution control at over 270 of their US factory farms.

The disturbing truth about factory farming is not widely known, partly because the companies prefer to conceal the realities of intensive pig farming, (no cameras allowed inside the factories) and partly because the present labelling regime in the UK does not inform the consumer that much of the meat on the shelves has been produced by caged sows, although following public demands, eggs must now be labelled if they are from caged hens. Britain’s corporate-friendly libel laws mean that the media, unwilling to risk the huge cost of defending a libel action, often decide not to publish stories which criticise wealthy corporations. A few days before the planned broadcast of Pig Business, Channel Four, after receiving a second letter from Smithfield threatening legal action, postponed the broadcast and were advised by their lawyer to remove material including an inteview with an ex worker. Other workers, fearing reprisals, said they would only appear in the film if their faces were pixillated.

And it gets worse. In January 2010 Compassion in World Farming published the results of a survey of factory farms in Europe which found that almost all were operating illegally, below even the minimal welfare standards required by the EU which demand that straw or equivalent material is provided, and forbids routine tail docking. This makes it even more important that consumers demand better labelling, demand to be informed whether the meat was produced by intensive factory farming so that they can avoid it and choose instead higher welfare pork, ie Freedom Food, Outdoor, Free Range or Organic.

Good for pigs, good for farmers, good for the piggy bank

Over the coming months we will be tantalising you with some great ideas for cooking pork, courtesy of Dave the Gourmet Guy in Cork. Dave has written down his best tried and tested recipes for some of the cheaper cuts such as belly of pork, shoulder, and neck fillet – and shows us, in his own words, how to “make a silk purse from a sow’s ear”. These lesser known parts of the pig are often less expensive than the ubiquitous pork chop, making it affordable to choose high quality, high welfare pork every time. How do you eat a whole pig? The same way you eat an elephant… start with the toes. Eating the whole pig saves waste and supports British farmers so we say get stuck in – pig out! Do you have a crack(le)ing recipe to share on the blog? Send it to info@pigbusiness.co.uk.  Today we kick off the Easter weekend with a mouthwatering recipe for belly of pork.. enjoy!

Braised Pork Belly with ginger and red onion marmalade

What you need

A 2lb piece of pork belly

3 onions (roughly chopped)

3 celery stalks (roughly chopped)

1 bunch of fresh thyme

1 bunch of parsley stalks

1tbs of szechuan peppercorns

For the ginger and red onion marmalade

What you need

2 medium red onions (finely sliced)

2 thumb sized pieces of ginger (grated)

1tbs of runny honey

2tbs of cider vinegar

Glaze to finish the pork belly

2tbs of runny honey

2tbs of balsamic vinegar

1/2tsp of ground fennel seed

Method

To make the braised pork you need something like a crock pot or an oven proof saucepan and just put all the braised pork ingredients in it. Add enough water to cover the pork and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Transfer to the oven and cook, uncovered, until the pork is tender, about 2 hours. Remove from the oven and set aside.

For the ginger and red onion marmalade put the red onion, ginger, and honey in a medium saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and cook until it has evaporated. Add 1/4 pint of water and turn the heat to low. Simmer the mixture until it is almost dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the glaze (its optional but its worth it), put the honey in a saucepan and let the colour deepen for a few mins before adding the  balsamic vinegar and the fennel and reducing it until it is nice and thick. Now brush the skin side of the pork belly and place under a hot grill, this will crisp up the skin and kind of caramelize the glaze.

Carve and serve with a noodle salad with some of the marmalade on the side.