Eating Happy Pigs meat

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn has announced it’s going to start using happier pigs. Pork from pigs with a one-star “Better Life” pedigree will gradually replace meat from factory farms on the freezer shelves. Albert Heijn is the first supermarket to introduce the measure and it hopes all its supermarkets will sell one-star pork in 2011. The first packet will be presented to Deputy Agriculture Minister Henk Bleker today.

The star system was introduced by the Dutch Animal Protection Foundation in 2007. The foundation was initially criticised because the system rewards farmers for small improvements. A one-star pig has one square metre to live in (compared to 0.8 square metres in factory farms) and male pigs are not castrated.

It might not be a big difference, but the idea of bridging the gap between factory and organic farming seems to be paying off. A spokesperson for the Animal Protection Foundation says “Organic meat is better, but consumers don’t want it.” The decision means a million pigs will be slightly better off. They will also live in groups rather than in individual pens. But if you want to eat a really happy pig, you will still have to go organic. Three-star pigs have three times as much room as factory farm pigs, lie on straw, keep their tails and teeth, and are not castrated. Of course, if you really want to make pigs happy, turn vegetarian.