The nation’s pork producers, long under assault by the Humane Society of the United States over how momma pigs are housed, are going on offense, saying that the animal rights group’s charge that the sows are abused is really a bid to kill the industry.
“They are passionate about us not being in the business of producing meat,” said Ron Prestage, a South Carolina pork producer and incoming president of the National Pork Producers Council.
The Humane Society has run a successful campaign against pork producers housing sows in stalls called “gestation crates.” The Washington-based organization prefers that the pregnant pigs be allowed to socialize in more open “group housing.”
It has succeeded in getting several retailers to demand that pork come from farms that don’t use the crates and even talked some producers into changing to group housing.
But Prestage and other producers are mounting an education campaign on the crates, explaining that they keep the sows safer, make it easier to provide medical attention and protect farm workers who handle the female pigs. The group has worked with states like Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts to block legislation ending the use of the crates, claiming that it would harm pigs.
What’s more, they argue that consumers really don’t care where their meat comes from and argue that companies like Costco are giving in to Humane Society demands out of concern that the group’s anti-crate campaign threatens their Image.
The Humane Society isn’t backing down. President Wayne Pacelle told Secrets, “Let me be subtle about this: These guys are living in a fantasy land.”
Pacelle listed recent companies including Cargill and Smithfield that have moved to cut the use of crates and others consumer firms that have dedicated to buying from pork producers that don’t use the crates.
“Their claims seem quite odd, considering virtually every major food company has enacted a policy against crates, as have major pork producers,” Pacelle said.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
