Tracing Your Food

“Given the many iniquities of the meat industry, the bottom line, for me at any rate, is traceability and transparency”  Hugh FW.

When buying meat you want to know as much as possible about the origins of the meat; the lifestyle and diet of the animal it came from and to know that it had as humane a death as possible.

Supermarkets try to label their pork to help you make the right choice but most commercially farmed pigs have a rough deal. Pigs are the worst treated of all Britain's food livestock.

Litte Chinthurst Traceability

With Little Chinthurst Pork we can answer all your questions on how our pigs are raised and killed.

Organic

An organically farmed pig will spend a maximum of 1/5 of its life indoors.  On average there are 8 sows to a hectare (25 in non-organic farming) and when an organic pig does come inside, it is allocated at least twice as much space, by regulation, as an intensively farmed one, and by voluntary practice usually much more.

We would love to be organic. However, not all the fruit and vegetables that Sainsburys give us are organic, and accreditation with the Soil Association costs £500/year.

So instead, we give our pigs lots of space, lots of healthy food and a great life.

Supermarket & Butcher's Pork

Please think of the pigs when you are buying pork from a supermarket or butchers.

There are a number of certifications aimed at helping the consumer buy pork. Despite their limitations, at least Little Red Tractor and RSPCA Freedom pigs are British born and bred. Organic give the best indication of a good life for the pigs.

Lable : Little Red Tractor

This certification does not insist on any period of outdoor rearing.  It allows enough space for all the pigs to lie down at once.  It also allows tail docking (to prevent aggressive pigs in small spaces chewing other pigs tails off).

Label : British - beware this is often Foreign Pork

British meat farming is more rigorously moniotored and less flagrantly abusive than anywhere else in the world, so its worth aiming for British Pork. 

Pork can still be labelled British if the animals are bred abroad and spend a few weeks here before slaughter.  Processed meats and meat recipe dishes can be described as British if they are manufactured and packed here, wherever the meat comes from.

Label : RSPCA Freedom Food

Despite its name, this certfication is not free range – it is aimed at giving intensively farmed animals a better deal. It insists on straw bedding and a little more space for indoor reared pigs.

Label : Organic

An organically farmed pig will spend a maximum of 1/5 of its life indoors. On average there are 8 sows to a hectare (25 in conventional farming) and when an organic pig does come inside, it is allocated at least twice as much space, by regulation, as an intensively farmed one, and by voluntary practice usually much more.