The time has come, according to animal rights activists, for shops to cease selling premium ham made by EU farmers still employing practices prohibited in the UK.
According to Compassion in World Farming, the majority of Parma ham sold in the United Kingdom is raised in gestation cages.
The containers, known as “sow stalls,” have been outlawed in the United Kingdom since 1999, but their limited use within the EU is permitted.
According to the British Retail Consortium, British stores are at the forefront of requiring excellent animal welfare standards.
However, it was “more difficult with specialty hams, where the United Kingdom has a limited proportion of a highly-regulated product and the emphasis is on production techniques.”
Sainsbury’s, one of the top three supermarkets in the United Kingdom, stated that while sow stalls are used, all of its suppliers must adhere to “strict welfare standards” and their use is limited to a maximum of 28 days.
According to Asda, pigs used in the production of Parma ham were raised by EU welfare regulations.
Waitrose has pledged to stop the use of sow stalls in all of its pig operations, stating that “animal welfare is important to our brand.” Now that we have set the standard for pig welfare in the United Kingdom, we plan to eliminate sow stalls from our supply chain by 2025.
Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) stated that it wants all retailers, producers, and food firms to agree to eliminate all pig confinement crates.
This also includes farrowing crates, which are lawful in both the UK and the EU and are used to restrain sows during and after delivery to prevent them from crushing their piglets.
Sarah Moyes, senior campaigns manager at the CiWF, remarked, “People who pay a premium for items such as Parma ham are likely to be astonished to learn that these ‘luxury’ products come from systems that confine animals in such terrible cages.
The animals nevertheless spend a considerable portion of their lives in cages, as revealed by our analysis.
The European Commission has stated that it plans to prohibit all caged agricultural practices, including the use of farrowing crates and sow stalls, by 2027.
In 2013, the EU enacted a partial ban on individual sow stalls, however, they can still be used for the first four weeks of a sow’s four-month pregnancy.
It is argued that having stalls provides for improved individual feeding, protection from other pigs’ aggressive behavior, and quicker access to veterinary care.
However, animal rights activists argue that sows are unable to engage in normal and driven behaviors, such as foraging or socializing with other pigs.
The government of the United Kingdom, which outlawed sow stalls in 1999, is also considering outlawing farrowing crates.
A representative for the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs stated, “Our ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for farrowing crates, and we continue to strive toward this end.”
The majority of sows in the United Kingdom give birth and nurse their piglets in farrowing cages, according to estimates from the National Pig Association.
The NPA opposes a ban on farrowing crates and claims that the 1999 ban on sow stalls resulted in the loss of half of the UK pig sector, which was then replaced by EU meat produced using the stalls.
