The Great British Food Fight Pig Business: An interview with Tracy Worcester

Date Published:

30/06/2009

Hannah Williams caught up with documentary maker, Tracy Worcester, to talk pig business ahead of her True Stories documentary on More4

So we all know about chicken welfare but when did you become aware about the plight of pigs?

In fact I was surprised that chickens hit the headlines first when pigs are far closer to the public’s heart and, if it’s possible, have a worse life than chickens. The mother pig is kept in a stall so small that she can’t even turn around and the pigs for market are in cramped barren concrete compartments with slatted floors. Perhaps the fact that the cages for pregnant sows are banned in the UK took the light off the plight of these intelligent creatures. However, UK imports 70 per cent of its pork – all of which would be illegal to produce in this country in terms of animal welfare. Thereby the UK farmer can be added to the list of victims of the pig industry. How fair is it that we have laws which ensure that we don’t torture the creatures we eat, but the supermarkets and convenience stores source from abroad? To compete with imports our farmers are either forced to cram ever more creatures into the compartments with ever more medication to keep them alive or they go bankrupt.

1. Can you sum up the main factors/problems you witnessed in the pig industry?

One of the main problems in the pig industry is the cruelty inflicted on the pigs in intensive units. Another is the amount of faeces produced by so many animals crammed into a small area. There are laws dictating how much manure can be spread on the land but, as witnessed in Poland, these limits are often only on paper. Also as the animal excrement biodegrades it releases poisonous gases which affect workers' health and those living and working nearby.

Another problem is that the piglets are separated from their mother at three weeks old - before they have fully developed immune systems, so they are dosed with antibiotics which can increase the risk of MRSA and E Coli entering the food chain.

Another injustice is that millions of acres of land in South America, once used to feed the people, are now used to grow soya to feed pigs in the EU. Across the world debt has driven governments to sell their land, their water and their resources to corporations while their people starve and the ecosystem that once sustained life is destroyed.

3 Were you shocked about the state of things over in Poland and the US?

In the US farming is almost entirely dominated by giant corporations, the villages have been largely deserted. Supermarkets have similarly destroyed the high street. The UK is half way between this and Poland. In Poland 40 per cent of the population is still connected to the land. However, small farmers in the US, UK, Poland and everywhere else in the world, that still have a natural, humane and sustainable farming system, are going bankrupt. They cannot compete with cheap pork from intensive units both from within the nation and abroad.

These factory farms only win the competition as they have externalised their true costs on to the broader community and they have collected massive subsidies from governments who want ever bigger farms to compete in the globalised economy. However, people know that small scale farmers' traditional food is a better quality because the animals were better cared for and given less additives to make them grow faster and resist disease than in the intensive units. They were also fed on local feed and grass which gives higher omega 3 content to the consumer.

How do the issues you witnessed while making the film directly affect the average man on the street back in Britain and indeed British farmers?

In the last 10 years over 1 million highly educated and motivated Poles have come to the UK to look for work. But migration is not usually the preferred choice. However much the citizens work and export, the nation cannot seem to repay debts to western banks, and without money, they cannot re vitalise their own economy - so the citizens are forced to find work in another country.

Sadly Poland allowed multinational companies to take advantage of their ‘cheap’ labour. The cheap pork products from foreign factory farms have flooded Poland’s and the EU markets; undermining the survival of our small scale farmers and our future food security. Or forcing our farmers to become ever more intensive and unsustainable

Do you think the average punter on the street is pretty ignorant about the state of pork farming? Why do you think we’re less engaged with the issue than, say, chicken welfare?

Thanks to Channel 4, the average punter is aware of the chicken’s misfortune, but there has been less in the media about pigs. My film, Pig Business, shows the conditions that pigs in some factory farms are raised in and the ongoing damage to the environment and to our health that results from intensive factory farming. Pig Business also looks at the banking and subsidy system that favours multinational meat factories at the expense of much healthier and more humane small family farms. Besides the Channel 4 viewers, many diverse NGOs see the film as an important campaigning tool and will show it to many millions.

Is the recent Irish pork scandal a sign of things to come?

When looking after animals, if people are replaced by machines, you are bound to see horrendous cruelty and accidents. In fact the food scandals should be seen as inevitable part of a flawed system. All efforts should be made by our government to get out of an economy that encourages companies to compete so only the biggest survive. In order for EU companies to win the competition with other trading blocks, the EU government liberalise rules that protect people and the environment. Trade liberalisation should be abandoned to ensure this island has food security and quality. We should protect our farmers by using both the stick i.e. laws and carrot, like trade tariffs. Only then can we ensure our farmers survive to produce healthy food.

Who does the responsibility for the issue ultimately lie with? Is it a problem for the government, farmers, supermarkets or us, the consumers, to address?

As governments are dependent on corporations and banks to fund their elections and have given the right to protect their nation to global trade treaties, we are not going to see politicians act in the best interests of people and the planet. So it is up to us consumers to have a peaceful revolution and shop with discretion. We as consumers can make an enormous difference by choosing pork which has been raised humanely and in a healthy environment.

Making the documentary was a lengthy process - what was the motivation that kept you going and what did you hope to achieve?

For a long time, I have been public speaking on the need to shift development from dependence on global banks and corporations toward local interdependence between communities and their real needs. However, most of my audiences were already aware of these issues and besides, who wants to believe a quite obviously affluent woman? So, I found those who are paying the true cost of factory farming to tell their story. Usually these films are fictionalised to avoid the lengthy legal wrangle I have experienced before getting the message out. To expose the truth is like walking a tight rope, phasing and filming in such a way as to avoid the wrath of litigious corporations – i.e. the producers, retailers and even the producers of the pig feed. I have been told that the only channel in the world that would dare be the first to broadcast is Channel 4. So hats off to them.

Finally, if you could urge consumers to take one course of action in terms of their pork consumption what would it be? Can, together, we really make a difference?

If there was only one course of action, I would like all consumers to buy British. Thereby British farmers will have a secure livelihood from which to improve their production methods. Those who also choose to buy straw bedded or outdoor reared UK pigs will ensure the pig lived a happy life before being eaten.

Watch Pig Business again on 4oD Catch-up.

Back to top