Cranswick said it was ‘deeply disappointed and frustrated’, after footage emerged from a third of its farms in the space of a few months, highlighting ‘unacceptable practices’.
The footage shows workers engaged ‘piglet thumping’, or non-mechanical blunt force trauma (BFT), with some of the filming taking place one and two days after Cranswick announced at its AGM on July 28 it had banned piglet thumping across all of its farms, according to the Animal Justice Project (AJP).
AJP said it secretly filmed employees at Mere Farm, at Barton upon Humber, North Lincolnshire. This followed similar exposés at Northmoor Farm, in Market Rasen, which also included manual BFT, and at Somerby Top Farm in Barnetby, both also owned by Cranswick. All three farms were acquired as part of the Elsham Linc acquisition in August 2023.
The latest footage was highlighted in a report by the Independent, which included comments from Tesco, Asda and Morrisons saying they had suspended Mere Farm, after the footage emerged.
AJP said that over four days in July, investigators filmed nine piglets killed through blunt force trauma. Further footage from March 2025 shows the same practice, ‘strongly indicating systemic use’ it claimed, adding that the piglets were not checked for signs of life.
It said the footage also showed ‘filthy, overcrowded sheds’, with injured pigs and dead piglets lying among the living and sick piglets enduring ‘extended suffering’, while sow was ‘violently abused’.
It said ‘minimal welfare checks’ were undertaken on the unit, and there were legislative breaches and regulations that prohibit striking or kicking animals.
‘Unacceptable’
A Cranswick spokesperson said it was ‘deeply disappointed and frustrated’ by the covert footage and stressed that it has taken action to dismiss the individuals involved.
“The behaviour depicted is wholly unacceptable and clearly breaches the values, standards and animal welfare practices that we uphold across our business,” he said.
“Much of the material appears to pre-date the significant reforms we have been implementing — including the complete overhaul of our livestock handling policies and extensive, independently-led retraining for our employees.
“We are continuously working on improving our on-farm standards and culture, whilst investing in cutting edge surveillance technology. This programme is ongoing and subject to continuous review and improvement.
“Despite these efforts, it is clear that a small number of individuals have failed to follow our strict animal welfare protocols, even after retraining. This constitutes a serious breach of our standards.
“As a result, those individuals have been immediately dismissed and we will cooperate fully with the relevant authorities to support further investigations”.
Cranswick confirmed that non-mechanical BFT was banned on all Cranswick farms in May 2025 and, prior to this, was actively discouraged and only allowed in an emergency situation. It has also retrained all pig farm employees on handling techniques and updated euthanasia policies, and committed to installing AI-enabled CCTV systems at all indoor farms.
An independent, veterinarian-led review has been commissioned into the practices and culture across our pig farming business, which is near completion.
Tide turning
Ayrton Cooper, AJP’s campaigns director, said: “The tide is turning. Consumers are tired of being misled by companies hiding behind hollow ‘high-welfare’ claims’.
He said it should not fall to NGOs to ‘repeatedly film the misery of pigs’ on the company’s farms – and called for end to pig farming, which he said was a ‘broken system that cannot be patched up’.