Norfolk MPs call for inquiry after animal abuse concerns
Green MP Adrian Ramsay and Labour MP Terry Jermy have called for welfare standards to be improved at livestock farms
Footage of terrified piglets being hit in the face and kicked across the floor at a pork farm has spurred Norfolk MPs to ask for a national inquiry into the meat industry.
Adrian Ramsay, Green MP for Waveney and Terry Jermy, Labour MP for South West Norfolk, have both called for action to improve welfare standards at livestock farms.
It follows a Daily Mail investigation which discovered staff abusing piglets at Somerby Top Farm in Lincolnshire over a 10-month period.
The farm is operated by Cranswick, one of the biggest producers of meat in the country, which has several sites in Norfolk.
The fresh abuse allegations come three months after another Cranswick farm, Northmoor Farm in Lincolnshire, also became the focus of animal abuse allegations.
Terry Jermy, who opposed Cranswick’s bid to create a megafarm in his constituency earlier this year, said: “This latest footage is horrifying. Such abuse should have no place in our society or indeed our food supply chain.
“I am very worried about such abuses plaguing Cranswick farms, many of which are located here in Norfolk. The company and wider industry need more frequent welfare inspections and better training and supervision for staff.”
Mr Jermy has called for a new animal welfare strategy to take “clear action” to reduce abuses at farms.
“I am also concerned that this is yet another incident involving Cranswick, particularly given their role influencing public policy as a member of the Government’s food strategy board,” he added.
Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Greens, said: “This is the second Cranswick farm to be exposed for horrific cruelty. We need a national inquiry into how such systemic abuse is allowed to continue in supposedly ‘assured’ supply chains, and we need it now.”
A spokesman for Cranswick has said the footage shared by the Daily Mail this weekend featured historic incidents that occurred several months ago and it is implementing “major changes” across its farming businesses.
He said: “The health and welfare of our pigs is our highest priority and we were horrified to see this unacceptable historic footage.
“We find the treatment of the pigs in the footage distressing to watch and we apologise unreservedly for this lapse in our standards. It does not in any way reflect the operating practices at our farms today.”