What Does Free Range Pork Mean To You?

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Porkchop explains the different production methods. Click the play button.

Pigs and a sustainable farm system

(powered by pigs!)

95% of all pigs produced in Australia are factory farmed. Only you can get the pig out of these conditions.

Cheap, subsidised imports are driving the pork prices here down so far that the industry is no longer sustainable. How can exporters send their pigs out of the country at such low prices?
Pigs out of countries like Denmark and Canada are heavily subsidised by their governments and Australian farmers just cannot compete under such unfair conditions.
How good are the animal welfare standards in the countries we import from?
What diseases are wide spread in overseas piggeries that do not currently exist here in Australia?
"Hormone Growth Promotant Free" We are seeing this term used a lot now. Is it your guarantee that no growth promoters were used in the production of that pork? No! Learn more ...
Modern growth promoters are not classed as hormones
Yes, hormones are still used in the Australian pig industry more ....

FREE RANGE PIGS, HOW SHOULD THEY BE RAISED?

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Making sense of pork certifications

It has become sadly apparent that unless you buy free range pork that is certified free range or organic, you are most likely being misled.

The big end of the pork industry has seen fit to take advantage of your lack of knowledge about their industry and seem set to misrepresent the product they sell.

What Certification Schemes can you trust?

Free Range Pork Farmers Association Certification is audited by an independent JASANZ approved company so you can be assured of a genuine product. You can view their standards here www.freerangeporkfarmers.com.au

Humane Choice is also audited by a third party, AUS-QUAL, one of Australias most respected companies. You can view their standards here www.humanechoice.com.au You can also get more information about organic certification here www.ofa.org.au

Just as there is no National Standard for free range pork, there are no industry guidelines for outdoor pig production either. Some producers claiming to be free range, attempt to confuse consumers with exultations of their industry accreditation APIQ. The Australian Pork Industry Quality Program (APIQ) does not define or accredit the housing systems, or production methods, used by the producer. The APIQ animal welfare component only extends to the minimum requirements of the Code of Practice for Pigs. This QA is more concerned about food safety and biosecurity.

The RSPCA pig accreditation is also causing some confusion. Their accreditation does not mean that pork carrying the RSPCA logo is free range. It simply means that the producer has met RSPCA welfare standards, standards that include the housing of pigs indoors.

If the free range pork you buy is not certified through the Free Range Pork Farmers Association or Humane Choice, you have no guarantee that the pigs were allowed a free range life.

Do you know about the life your fresh supermarket pork leads before it reaches your table?

Rearing conditions for most pigs in Australia are unacceptably intensive, as farmers are put under pressure to produce pork as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Pigs commonly develop stress disorders associated with an unnatural environment and restricted movement, and many live their short lives without ever setting foot on soil, experiencing sunshine on the backs and never knowing what it is like to run and feel free.

There are around 5,000,000 pigs slaughtered for human consumption each year in Australia. 95% of them are factory farmed.

How Did It Happen? more .....

To find out were you can purchase free range pork, visit the Free Range Pork Farmers Association or the Humane Choice websites.

There is another way...

BUT IT INVOLVES YOU!

The natural way for a pig to live is outdoors – with grass under its feet, and the sun on its back. Outdoors access is fundamental to the free range system of pig production. The pigs are still commercially produced, farmed in large numbers and destined for the oven, but they have more space, and lead more natural, longer lives.

And even when they choose to be inside, they have more space, and an enriched environment.
Pigs are sociable, curious creatures. They like to range, they love to rest in shaded areas and they have a strong bond with their herd and will protect not only their own young, but all piglets in their group.

Free range pork does cost more to produce; so it will cost you a little more.

You are in control of how pigs are farmed simply by the decisions you make when you purchase pork.

Only you can help get the Pigs Out of their confined factory farmed conditions and into the sunshine.

In 1960 there were 49,537 pork producers in Australia, the majority of them would have been free range.

By 2004 there was only 1,999 producers but sow numbers had increased by over 50% and 95% are raised in intensive sheds.

Why did things change? Why cant we put the pigs back outside?

What is 'Bred' Free Range?

'Bred' free range is a system where the sow lives outdoors and gives birth outdoors. When the piglets are weaned however, they are grown indoors, usually on straw over concrete floors in large sheds. Only the sow is free range, not the pork produced from her piglets.

RSPCA Pig Accreditation Scheme

There is a misconception that the RSPCA Accreditation only supports free range farms. That is not the case at all. RSPCA Australia concentrates on the animal welfare standards pigs are bred, reared, transported and slaughtered under, not the method of housing itself. They do not make a distinction between ‘bred free range’ and ‘free range’ or 'indoor group housing' in their accreditation standards.

Certified Organic Pork is true free range pork, the requirements for cert organic pork also include restrictions on the sort of feed and paddock & animal treatments allowed. Cert organic & cert free range are similar in the high standards set for a natural environment for the pigs to live. Whenever you see Certified organic pork it is also genuinely free range.