Appearing in a series of videos made by the group Farms for Factories are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mark Hix, Damian Clisby, James Golding, Amelia Freer, Jemima Jones, Lucy Carr-Ellison, Arthur Potts Dawson, James Knappett, Sam Leach, Adam Byatt, Tom Hunt and Tom Adams. Each video shows one of the chefs preparing a delicious pork dish while describing the significant difference in taste and texture between high welfare and factory produced pork. The chefs explain why they would only ever serve high welfare meat to their customers, who are increasingly concerned about cruel and unhealthy practices in factory pig farming.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “I want to eat pork from pigs that have been reared outdoors, free to enjoy the rooting, snuffling and social interaction that are so essential to them. In fact, that’s the only pork I’m prepared to eat. The alternative - intensively reared, antibiotic-laden meat from stressed animals confined in high numbers in cramped indoor conditions - is simply not acceptable. Choosing free-range or organic pork is a no-brainer for me because of the welfare issues alone - but I can assure you it tastes far better too!”
Also appearing in the videos are the charismatic farmers who raise their pigs in natural, humane and healthy surroundings, such as Peter Gott who raises his woodland wild boar on a Cumbrian hillside and Peter Greig who runs the award-winning Pipers Farm co-operative in Devon.
The videos call on consumers to only buy meat with a high animal welfare label, namely: RSPCA Assured, Outdoor Bred, Free Range or Organic.
The series is part of Farms Not Factories’ ongoing #TurnYourNoseUp campaign which aims to strengthen the consumer revolt against factory pig farming where overcrowding and stress suffered by pigs mean that they have to be routinely given ever stronger antibiotics to stave off disease. The campaigners say this has already led to diseases becoming resistant to antibiotics and passing from pigs to humans.