Cranswick ‘Trying to Save Its Bacon with Pig Welfare Promises’, Says Vegan Charity
- Cranswick Plc has been the subject of several undercover investigations into serious animal welfare issues this year
- Viva! says the 44 recommendations set out in a new review, during which just five per cent of Cranswick’s farms were visited, highlight the endemic cruelty of industrial pig farming systems in the UK
- Viva! is calling for consumers who truly care about pig welfare to leave them off their plates by going vegan
12 November 2025: Viva!, the UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, has criticised Britain’s biggest pork producer after it announced a new six-point animal welfare plan and a £40m investment in improving and modernising its farming model.
The announcement follows significant negative press coverage of Cranswick Plc’s farming practices. This year, the group has found itself the focus of several undercover investigations which have exposed the suffering of pigs on its farms, which produce approximately 35,000 pigs a week in total. Footage taken by Viva! Campaigns at Manor Farm and Southwold Farm shows animals with umbilical hernias, uterine prolapses, necrotic ears and crate sores.
The same serious welfare issues, as well as ‘piglet thumping’ – the killing of piglets through blunt force trauma – have also been documented by other animal welfare groups at North Moor Farm, Mere Farm and Somerby Top. Cranswick claims it has since banned the use of blunt force trauma.
Faced with mounting pressure from consumers and the threat of further damaging headlines, Cranswick commissioned an independent review by farm veterinarian Dr Andy Butterworth, who has noted there is “much to be done to improve welfare standards across Cranswick operations”.
The review involved unannounced visits to 20 pig farms between June and August 2025 – just five per cent of the 400 farms Cranswick either operates directly or runs via third-party partners – and makes no less than 44 recommendations for improving standards. The group’s animal welfare plan is based upon these recommendations, which it says it is committed to implementing, though no timeline has been given for many of the measures to be introduced.
“While we welcome all efforts to improve animal welfare, the fact is that Cranswick has only announced this animal welfare plan to try and rescue its public image,” says Juliet Gellatley, the founder and director of Viva!. “Pigs are hugely sensitive and intelligent animals. The review’s recommendations include adding matting to slatted concrete pens – pens in which pigs spend most of their lives without ever feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs, or the shifting of soil beneath their snouts as they root around – and introducing photo guides on the grades of hernias deemed ‘acceptable’.
“We would argue that treating sentient beings like mere commodities, in such a way that photo guides like this are routinely needed, can never be acceptable. No amount of monitoring or incremental improvement can fix a system fundamentally based on the exploitation of animals. Pigs are inquisitive, social individuals. They deserve lives worth living – not just lives that comply with minimum legal standards.”
The review also noted that while “none of the practices highlighted in the [North Moor Farm] investigative video and the media were observed during the visits”, it “could not categorically state that such events could not occur on other farms which were not visited, or at other times outside of the visit events.”
According to Viva!, the review unintentionally presents a strong case for transitioning away from pig farming. The charity says the 44 recommendations highlight the fact that even ‘enhanced welfare’ industrial farming models still rely on confinement, the separation of mothers from piglets, invasive procedures such as tail docking and slaughter at a fraction of the animal’s natural lifespan.
“It’s laughable that Cranswick should now try and position itself as an industry leader in animal welfare, after so much evidence has been produced of the appalling suffering of the pigs trapped on its factory farms,” added Gellatley. “We’re urging consumers not to fall for Cranswick’s hollow promises. If a corporation has to invest over £40m simply to try to make pig farming slightly ‘less bad’, then it’s time we asked ourselves why we’re doing it at all – especially when plant-based alternatives already exist.”
ENDS
Notes
- Viva! is a registered charity (number 1037486) and the UK’s leading vegan campaigning organisation
- To find out more about Viva!’s investigation into Cranswick, visit here – viva.org.uk/animals/campaigns/pigs/investigation-britains-biggest-pork-producer
- For assets and further information, contact Rachael Simpson-Jones, PR manager at Viva! – rachael@viva.org.uk
