Animal welfare chair says truth does not sell pork

The conditions shown in videos from Icelandic pig farms are standard in industrial production, Rósa Líf Darradóttir, chair of the Association for Animal Welfare in Iceland, told mbl.is. The videos, posted on social media by Einar Logi Pétursson on Friday, were filmed inside farms run by Stjörnugrís. He has broken into the company’s farms twice.

Darradóttir said the footage matched information her association had shared in awareness campaigns about pig welfare, including campaigns held around Christmas each year.

Pigs are highly intelligent and curious animals with a strong instinct to run and root in soil, she said. But in industrial farming, they are denied the chance to live in a way that meets those natural needs.

“What may be most striking is that this is the norm,” Darradóttir said, referring to pigs kept in crates on concrete floors for months. She described the production system as one built on animal suffering.

She said the footage had not surprised her, although it was always distressing to see animals suffer. She added that powerful interests had little incentive to let such conditions come to light, saying, “The truth does not sell pork.”

Darradóttir said consumers could influence demand by choosing whether to buy such products. Most pork sold in shops, she said, comes from animals that have lived in similar conditions.

In a statement issued on Friday, Stjörnugrís said its animals were subject to frequent and ongoing inspections. A veterinary service provider visits the farm every two weeks, and the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority, known as MAST, inspected it on October 15. The company said no serious comments were made after that inspection.

Darradóttir said MAST operates within the limits of the existing system and cannot change the production model. The conditions shown in the videos are permitted under current rules, she said.