Squalid, crowded conditions on farms create the perfect storm for ‘superbugs’ to thrive – dangerous bacteria resistant to life-saving drugs. A major data leak has revealed damning evidence regarding the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria on British farms and in supermarket 'meat'. A joint investigation by Animal Justice Project and AGtivist across four intensive pig farms in Northern Ireland, connected to major producers Cranswick, Karro and Finnebrogue, and supplying leading supermarkets including M&S, Asda, and Tesco, has revealed shocking horrors. What we found was deeply disturbing, and we didn’t have to look far to understand precisely why this superbug pandemic is happening.
Superbugs are leaching out into communities, endangering lives and killing thousands of people. This impacts every single one of us. It’s time we take serious action.
Across the four farms, many antibiotics were present, including those classified as ‘Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics (HPCIA)’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Many of these drugs can be given through food and water to large groups of pigs, and others may be directly injected. There was a large supply of vaccinations across the sites too, revealing piglets dosed just enough to keep them alive in the filthy conditions. However, even that wasn’t enough to stop pigs from suffering and dying agonising deaths on these farms.
Dead bodies littered the walkways, pens and rubbish heaps of these intensive pig farms. Others, who hadn’t yet died, were left to perish slowly. One such pig, who was reduced to skin and bones, took her final laboured breaths on camera; she was beyond help – left by the farmers to leave this world in such a painful, cruel way that it’s unfathomable for us to comprehend.
”If the public is interested in the dystopian reality of modern intensive pig production, watch this footage. Caged breeding sows, mutilated piglets, suffering and death. Cruelty to pigs in squalid and filthy conditions. And a pharmacy of antibiotics to mitigate disease. We must ask why governments, the veterinary profession and society prioritise cheap pork and bacon over life saving antibiotics?” – Dr Steven McCulloch, European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law
The major data leak has revealed ‘pork’ sausages contaminated with antibiotic-resistant microbes, found throughout major supply chains. Leading supermarkets Tesco, M&S and Asda were found to have products on their shelves containing resistant strains of Salmonella typhimurium, a dangerous cause of food poisoning, including a massive 51% of the samples linked to Cranswick and Karro.
In 2023, there were 66,730 serious antibiotic-resistant infections in humans within the UK alone. Of which, 2,200 people died. This deadly pandemic is impacting lives every day, and families are being torn apart; this could have all been prevented if we weren't farming, killing and eating animals. The annual cost of antimicrobial resistance to the NHS is estimated to be £180 million. By 2050, 10 million people could die every year, costing the global economy $100 trillion. Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to our communities.
Despite this, there are no legal requirements for farmers to report their use of antibiotics. A startling revelation, given that there have been no new antibiotics on the market since 1987.
The lives of the pigs at these farms were hellish. The sheds were thick with what appeared to be years of grime and dirt. Pigs had no option but to lie down in their own filth in the small, crowded pens. Mother pigs were trapped in farrowing crates, unable even to turn around. Several had sores on their bodies where they constantly rubbed against the restrictive cages. Other sows – female pigs – were imprisoned in insemination crates overnight. It is against regulations for pigs to be kept in these crates for longer than 24 hours because of how torturous they are.
We filmed the dead bodies of piglets, who appeared to have been ‘thumped’. This is an illegal method of killing young pigs by slamming them onto concrete floors or walls in an attempt to kill them. The tiny piglets had their tails cut off – mutilated when they were just a day or two old.
The deadly combination of critical antibiotics being used across pig farms, coupled with the foul conditions, creates a massive threat to society – one that must be tackled immediately.
We are calling on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to remove Cranswick’s Non-Executive Chairman, Tim Smith CBE, from its Food Strategy Advisory Board and Food & Drink Sector Council. Add your signature today.
Give Challenge 22 a try! With free online guidance, mentors and delicious plant-based recipes, choose vegan for the animals and join the fastest-growing social justice movement in history.
If you are vegan and want to help further, you can order our Imprisoned pig leaflets and Animal Farming factsheets, perfect for educating the public on high streets and posting through letterboxes!
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