There is a significant increase in the number of pigs raised to better welfare standards over the past two years as a result of consumer demand, according to officials from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Freedom Food scheme.

 

New research has revealed consumer spending on Freedom Food pre-packed pork products, including fresh pork, sausages, bacon and cooked ham, has increased by 64% over the past year.

 

Sales have risen to GBP47.8 million in the year to May 2010 from GBP29.2 million over the previous 12 months. Much of the growth has come in supermarket sales, where the quantity of Freedom Food pork products sold has risen by 80%, from four million kilos to over seven million kg.

 

Freedom Food's chief executive Leigh Grant said the upsurge in consumer demand was leading to more farmers joining the scheme.

 

"We have seen the number of pigs reared to RSPCA welfare standards dramatically increase by 26% - from less than 1.6 million animals two years ago, to more than 1.9 million today as a direct result of consumer demand," he said.

 

"That's 400,000 more pigs having a better life and means Freedom Food now accounts for about 21% of UK pig production. It just goes to show the power that shoppers have to make real changes to animals' lives through what they choose to buy," he added.

 

Freedom Food (FF) announced earlier this year that 532 million farm animals were being reared under the scheme, 46% up on 2008, and reported record-breaking sales of chicken reared under the scheme two months ago.

 

Freedom Food was set up by the RSPCA in 1994. All scheme members (farms, hauliers, processors, packers and abattoirs) receive annual assessments, and visits by RSPCA farm livestock officers.