Coles pork to go sow stall free
Coles has announced a plan to phase out the use of sow stalls by its producers by the end of 2014, with the first shipments of cage-free pork in the Coles Butcher line beginning next year. Coles already offers sow stall-free pork in the Otway, Linley Valley, and KR branded Outdoor Reared ranges.
The announcement coincides with the addition of new free-range pork products in the Coles’ Finest range, developed in conjunction with the RSPCA.
Sow stalls have become a hot topic in recent months, with the Tasmanian state government announcing that they will be phased out over seven years, and Australia’s largest piggery Riverlea committing to the same target.
“Our customers are becoming increasingly interested in welfare issues surrounding pig farming, with the use of sow stalls their greatest concern,” said Coles General Manager of Meat Allister Watson.
“For a number of months now, Coles has been working on plans with our pork producers to phase out sow stalls. We are working with our growers to ensure they avoid onerous costs in changing how they raise pigs. Changes will therefore take time to complete, but Coles and its suppliers are stepping heavily in the right direction.”
Sow stalls are metal cages, generally measuring two metres by 60 centimetres – slightly larger than an adult pig – in which a pregnant pig is confined. Pregnant pigs can be aggressive, and the crates allow large numbers of animals to be kept in a small space without risking bullying or injury.
Issues still exist around the use of farrowing crates, where a mother pig is kept tightly caged so that she cannot crush or injure her piglets, but the piglets can still suckle.
RSPCA Australia CEO Heather Neil commended Coles for showing leadership on pig welfare and said the move was the strongest signal yet that sow stalls were no longer palatable to consumers.
“The RSPCA has always said that to have a meaningful impact on pig welfare we need humane pork products on every supermarket shelf across Australia. To take pork produced from pigs in sow stalls off the shelves of a major retailer is a huge step towards achieving that,” said Ms Neil.
“The RSPCA believes we can all enjoy a pork roast and still care about the pig that provided it. We encourage shoppers to look for RSPCA Approved pork – our guarantee that those products were produced by pigs that were treated humanely.”
Pigs on RSPCA-approved farms are free to express their full range of natural behaviours, and procedures like teeth clipping, nose ringing and surgical castration are prohibited. In addition to space, bedding, nutritious food, clean water, shelter and ventilation, RSPCA farms must handle and transport their animals with consideration.
Coles Finest Free Range Pork products will be available in 60 Coles outlets in NSW, Victoria and the ACT from today.
Animal welfare standards are being eroded by cheaper products undercutting potential humane and acceptable standards. Coles must apply the policy of banning pork products that use sow stalls across the board, and not just target Australian producers. This would simply be hypocrisy and customers would simply buy the cheaper product, but with a clear conscious. Sow stalls are inhumane and the stress on intelligent pigs by being pinned in an upright position for up to 16 weeks must be enormous. Factory farming is a blight on civilised society and all animals must be treated humanely and naturally.
It’s a good move by Coles but such an awful pity that they have only done this because they feel this is what the consumers now want rather then because it is the right thing to do. Hopefully this ideology will find it’s way into all of the production methods for the foods they sell at supermarkets.
Congratulations to Coles for taking the initiative. It is a bit late for Australian Pork Limited (APL) to be complaining. The message that it is unacceptable to cram pregnant pigs into steel cages has been loud and clear for a long time and APL have ignored retailers and consumers to their peril. Government has also failed to take the lead on pig welfare standards. Tasmania decided to go it alone because everyone was growing old waiting for APL and Government to address the issue. The management of APL has been appalling and the extensive producers who pay a levy to APL for every pig killed should consider a challenge. The Australian Government matches research and development money with APL but the question goes begging – how much is spent on extensive production research and how much is spent justifying intensive confinement? They do nothing to support the extensive producer and are only now playing catch up.
So thank you Coles for taking an industry lead on this issue as it is important to many Australians.
Pigs in general can be aggressive, but pregnant sows are generally less aggressive than other pigs, especially late in their pregnancy.
Many developed countries have banned sow stalls for pregnant sows years ago. There is plenty of experience with alternative systems which overall work much better.
There were similar producer outcries in Denmark in the mid 90’s a few years before the stalls were banned. Managing sows in groups is different and more challenging, but also more rewarding. It improves the welfare of both the animals and their handlers!
The Australian producers should get rid of the individual stalls ASAP – they are not worth hanging on to and represent a ticking bomb – in the form of risk of damaging the image of the entire Australian pork industry (already has) and pork meat in general. Clinging to familiar but poor old practices is a stupid strategy.
Good on Coles for taking this step!
Sorry, there is a mistake in my comment above – I just learned that sow stalls are still allowed in Denmark. It was the even older confinement systems with collars that was banned in the 90’s.
Anyway, during the 90’s and probably later as well when there was focus on the animal welfare issues with the stall, many pig farmers converted to the use of group based systems, typically with deep litter in parts or all of it. Almost every pig farmer I knew or heard of during the 90’s either phased out the gestation crates or were planning to do so when the system they had was paid down. I actually thought the confinement system was banned but apparently the conversions were voluntary.
The stalls are banned in Sweden and the UK and will be banned in Denmark from 2014. Until then, eat Swedish and UK pork:-)
My father raised pigs in Parkes NSW. He loved them to the extent that even though we had no heating, the sows had bar heaters and classical music playing 24 hours a day . They were hand-fed and all 200 of the sows were treated like queens and frequently produced 13 babies each litter. Most breeders love their pigs and treat them well. It is the demands of companies such as COLES and WOOLWORTHs that leads to mistreatment in order to supply specified weight and fat content levels for each of the animals.