Tesco is investigating one of its pork suppliers after piglets were filmed being raised in “abysmal conditions”.
Footage shot using hidden cameras showed workers at Cross Farm in Holsworthy Beacon, Devon, killing baby pigs in quick succession by swinging them against concrete walls.
The practice, known as thumping, is legal in Britain for piglets under four weeks old but may be carried out only if the animal is suffering and all other forms of treatment have been exhausted.
Workers also cut the tails of piglets, apparently without anaesthetic. The practice is legal but may be carried out only as a means of preventing tail biting once all other methods have been tried.
Pigs were also filmed being left to rot on the floor of the farm while others were crushed to death by their mothers.
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The footage was shot by activists from Animal Equality on three separate occasions, in October last year and January and June this year.
In other videos, workers could be seen gathering up piglets and tossing them from one place to another, causing their mother to become visibly distressed. In response to the sow’s agitation, a farmhand threw straw into her face.
Activists filmed what they said were dozens of newborn piglets lying dead inches from their mothers, who were being kept in farrowing crates, a metal cage widely used throughout the industry that enables piglets to suckle while preventing the mother from moving.
Paperwork in the barn detailing piglet deaths recorded that many had died after being “laid on” by their mothers or from starvation. Meanwhile, some of the sows themselves had deep wounds caused by continuous rubbing against the metal crates.
Abigail Penny, the group’s executive director, said: “Pigs on Cross Farm struggle and suffer in the most abysmal conditions. All too often their cries are kept firmly behind closed doors, but our footage shows the wretched reality that so many mother pigs face on British farms today.”
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After The Times presented footage from the farm to Tesco, the supermarket said that it had temporarily suspended supply from Cross Farm while it carried out an investigation.
Cross Farm, which is owned by WJ Watkins and Son and holds about 12,000 pigs, is a Red Tractor-certified farm. The footage, however, calls into question the effectiveness of the national scheme supposed to maintain animal welfare standards.
It is also not the first time that evidence of poor treatment has been uncovered at Cross Farm. Only four months ago, another undercover investigation at the site found pigs engaging in cannibalism and suffering from untreated wounds.
A previous investigation by Animal Equality in 2017, which was published by The Times, found animals on the farm living in filthy, leaking buildings flooded with slurry and with no dry place to rest.
Red Tractor certification, which was set up in 2000 by the National Farmers’ Union, is used to mark food produced to a “high standard”. Over recent years, however, there have been numerous reported instances of poor animal treatment at its certified farms.
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A spokesman for the organisation said that it had temporarily suspended the farm’s certificate and investigated in response to “some concerns about compliance” raised in the footage.
An independent assessor visited Cross Farm on an unannounced spot check but found that “the farm had already implemented some measures to address issues raised in the footage”.
“The farm’s certificate has therefore been reinstated but the business will remain under close scrutiny, receiving additional unannounced spot checks to monitor ongoing compliance,” the spokesman said.
He added: “Animal welfare standards are a top priority for Red Tractor and we take allegations of this type very seriously.”
On the basis of the footage, Advocates for Animals, a law firm, has sent a letter of complaint to Heart of the South West trading standards, alleging potential breaches of welfare law.
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“We urge you on behalf of our clients to conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate enforcement action,” they wrote in the letter.
Responding on behalf of Cross Farm, Lizzie Wilson, chief executive of the National Pig Association, said: “The welfare of our animals and how they are cared for on our farm is absolutely paramount to our staff and business.
“Indeed, in the instances we have been made aware of examples which fall below the standard we would expect, urgent remediate action has been taken and we have co-operated with numerous and comprehensive independent inspections including farm assurance, APHA [the Animal and Plant Health Agency] and the supply chain, and will continue to do so.”
