Pig Business
Encyclopedia
Pig Business is a 2009 film by Tracy Worcester
, a former actress and now an environmental campaigner. It is a feature documentary exposing the huge hidden costs behind the pork
and processed meat products on our supermarket shelves, and shows viewers and consumers how they can use their buying power to help create a more compassionate world.
The film shows footage of pregnant pig
s in steel crates too small to even turn around and reveals how pig waste pollutes the air and drinking water and makes beautiful lakes unsafe to swim in.
It also shows how, to prevent the onset of diseases spreading throughout the crowded barns, the routine use of antibiotics are used thereby increasing the danger of antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA and E. coli
entering the food chain
.
The film focuses on the expansion of the multi-national Smithfield Foods
of America, based in Virginia
which has been the target of impassioned protests by prominent ecologists, from Bobby Kennedy Jr to The Ecologist
's Zac Goldsmith
. Initially focusing on the United States, Worcester explains how large corporations such as Smithfield Foods – an organisation that processes 27 million pigs in 15 countries, producing sales of $12 billion every year – have effective control over the whole market, providing cheap meat to supermarkets which in turn sends small, independent farms out of business.
The film documents the pig industry's record of human and environmental disasters in America and its expansion into the EU market by moving to Poland. When the excreta of 10,000 pigs (the equivalent of 100,000 humans' daily waste) is stored in massive anaerobic lagoons (cesspools) and sprayed over surrounding fields, local residents report unusually frequent headaches, eye irritation, excessive coughing, nausea and asthma. At one moment Worcester gamely climbed over a barbed wire fence where she filmed thousands of pigs on bare slatted floors before being chased away by the pig attendant.
More shocking footage included in the film shot by Compassion in World Farming
shows dead piglets floating in a lagoon and dead pigs amongst the living inside a factory farm.
The film incorporates interviews with medical experts, politicians, industry heads, farmers and villagers from both sides of the debate including a centrepiece interview with Smithfield Foods' vice-president of environmental and corporate affairs. It also draws heavily on Bobby Kennedy Jr., nephew of the late US President John F. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has led successful legal actions against factory farms.
One scientist identifies studies which show that a significant percentage of workers in these super-farms can develop chronic respiratory illness. Because of the EU's agriculture policy, thousands of Polish farmers who have helped to keep their landscape an "unspoilt jewel of Central Europe", are being driven out of business and into unemployment and migration. The advance of factory farms in Poland has been helped by huge multi-million dollar loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- a bank guaranteed and subsidised by the taxpayer.
The film also points out that supermarkets choose to bulk-buy from the super-farms and inadequate labelling often makes it unclear where and how the pork has been produced. UK independent pig farmers claim they are being ruined because they cannot compete with the low cost of imported pork
produced to lower standards and with cheaper labour in Europe.
In closing, the documentary describes solutions to the issues it highlights. It advocates buying British to ensure the sows are not kept in crates for their entire pregnancy and ideally buying organic, free range or outdoor reared pork from farmers' markets and high street butchers to support independent farmers.
for fear of being sued by Smithfield.
In February 2009 Channel 4 postponed broadcasting the film. Parts of the documentary were then subsequently remade to ensure it was "libel proof".
The controversy was largely because Pig Business criticises the practices of the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods
of America, claiming it is responsible for environmental pollution and health problems among residents near its factories. Smithfield's lawyers wrote a letter saying that the film was defamatory and included untrue claims. The company denies claims that pigs are mistreated.
The film in altered form then made its UK debut at the Barbican
on 20 May 2009, with Zac Goldsmith
on hand to lend support. This showing only went ahead when the filmmaker, Tracy Worcester, signed an indemnity taking personal responsibility for its content. The film was also shown at the 2009 Hay Festival
where Bobby Kennedy Jr was present and criticised Smithfield's attempts to stop the film being shown on UK television and public screenings.
In the US, insurers are not willing to underwrite the film unless Lady Worcester pays the first $300,000 of damages and, though Worcester was warned by lawyers not to put it on YouTube
, it is now published there. Smithfield Foods has not yet taken legal action.
Controversy also surrounds the half-owned Smithfield Foods pig sheds near the village of La Gloria
, Mexico, where as many as 1,800 villagers living near the plant had already complained of respiratory problems and 400 had been treated before the 2009 swine flu outbreak.
Tracy Louise Ward
Tracy Louise Ward, Marchioness of Worcester, frequently referred to as Tracy Worcester is a former actress, now an environmental campaigner.She is a daughter of the Hon...
, a former actress and now an environmental campaigner. It is a feature documentary exposing the huge hidden costs behind the pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
and processed meat products on our supermarket shelves, and shows viewers and consumers how they can use their buying power to help create a more compassionate world.
Plot summary
Beginning with an introduction from Tracy Worcester, the film highlights the practices of factory farms with a particular focus on Poland.The film shows footage of pregnant pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s in steel crates too small to even turn around and reveals how pig waste pollutes the air and drinking water and makes beautiful lakes unsafe to swim in.
It also shows how, to prevent the onset of diseases spreading throughout the crowded barns, the routine use of antibiotics are used thereby increasing the danger of antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA and E. coli
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...
entering the food chain
Food chain
A food web depicts feeding connections in an ecological community. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs...
.
The film focuses on the expansion of the multi-national Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, it runs facilities in 26 U.S. states, including the world's largest meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, and has operations in Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Poland,...
of America, based in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
which has been the target of impassioned protests by prominent ecologists, from Bobby Kennedy Jr to The Ecologist
The Ecologist
The Ecologist is a British environmental publication founded in 1970 by Edward Goldsmith. It addresses a wide range of environmental subjects and promotes an ecological systems thinking approach through its news stories, investigations and opinion articles. The Ecologist encourages its readers to...
's Zac Goldsmith
Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith, MP is an English environmental journalist, entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir...
. Initially focusing on the United States, Worcester explains how large corporations such as Smithfield Foods – an organisation that processes 27 million pigs in 15 countries, producing sales of $12 billion every year – have effective control over the whole market, providing cheap meat to supermarkets which in turn sends small, independent farms out of business.
The film documents the pig industry's record of human and environmental disasters in America and its expansion into the EU market by moving to Poland. When the excreta of 10,000 pigs (the equivalent of 100,000 humans' daily waste) is stored in massive anaerobic lagoons (cesspools) and sprayed over surrounding fields, local residents report unusually frequent headaches, eye irritation, excessive coughing, nausea and asthma. At one moment Worcester gamely climbed over a barbed wire fence where she filmed thousands of pigs on bare slatted floors before being chased away by the pig attendant.
More shocking footage included in the film shot by Compassion in World Farming
Compassion In World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa...
shows dead piglets floating in a lagoon and dead pigs amongst the living inside a factory farm.
The film incorporates interviews with medical experts, politicians, industry heads, farmers and villagers from both sides of the debate including a centrepiece interview with Smithfield Foods' vice-president of environmental and corporate affairs. It also draws heavily on Bobby Kennedy Jr., nephew of the late US President John F. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has led successful legal actions against factory farms.
One scientist identifies studies which show that a significant percentage of workers in these super-farms can develop chronic respiratory illness. Because of the EU's agriculture policy, thousands of Polish farmers who have helped to keep their landscape an "unspoilt jewel of Central Europe", are being driven out of business and into unemployment and migration. The advance of factory farms in Poland has been helped by huge multi-million dollar loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Founded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Its mission was to support the formerly communist countries in the process of establishing their...
- a bank guaranteed and subsidised by the taxpayer.
The film also points out that supermarkets choose to bulk-buy from the super-farms and inadequate labelling often makes it unclear where and how the pork has been produced. UK independent pig farmers claim they are being ruined because they cannot compete with the low cost of imported pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
produced to lower standards and with cheaper labour in Europe.
In closing, the documentary describes solutions to the issues it highlights. It advocates buying British to ensure the sows are not kept in crates for their entire pregnancy and ideally buying organic, free range or outdoor reared pork from farmers' markets and high street butchers to support independent farmers.
Controversy
The film which took five years to make was initially refused for broadcasting by Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
for fear of being sued by Smithfield.
In February 2009 Channel 4 postponed broadcasting the film. Parts of the documentary were then subsequently remade to ensure it was "libel proof".
The controversy was largely because Pig Business criticises the practices of the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, it runs facilities in 26 U.S. states, including the world's largest meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, and has operations in Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Poland,...
of America, claiming it is responsible for environmental pollution and health problems among residents near its factories. Smithfield's lawyers wrote a letter saying that the film was defamatory and included untrue claims. The company denies claims that pigs are mistreated.
The film in altered form then made its UK debut at the Barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
on 20 May 2009, with Zac Goldsmith
Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith, MP is an English environmental journalist, entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir...
on hand to lend support. This showing only went ahead when the filmmaker, Tracy Worcester, signed an indemnity taking personal responsibility for its content. The film was also shown at the 2009 Hay Festival
Hay Festival
The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales for ten days from May to June. Devised by Norman and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind"...
where Bobby Kennedy Jr was present and criticised Smithfield's attempts to stop the film being shown on UK television and public screenings.
In the US, insurers are not willing to underwrite the film unless Lady Worcester pays the first $300,000 of damages and, though Worcester was warned by lawyers not to put it on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, it is now published there. Smithfield Foods has not yet taken legal action.
Controversy also surrounds the half-owned Smithfield Foods pig sheds near the village of La Gloria
La Gloria
La Gloria is a municipality and town in the Department of Cesar, northern Colombia by the Magdalena River.-Geography:La Gloria is situated to the Eastern margin of the Magdalena River, it borders the north with the municipalities of Tamalameque and Pelaya, the south with the municipalities of...
, Mexico, where as many as 1,800 villagers living near the plant had already complained of respiratory problems and 400 had been treated before the 2009 swine flu outbreak.
See also
- Intensive pig farmingIntensive pig farmingIntensive piggeries are a type of factory farm ' specialized in the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight...
- Compassion in World FarmingCompassion In World FarmingCompassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa...
- Soil AssociationSoil AssociationThe Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
- Swine influenza