Pressured by the Dutch animal welfare organization "Varkens in Nood" (Pigs in Peril), from 2007 onwards, more and more supermarket chains decided not to sell castrated boar meat anymore. This year, three leading Dutch supermarkets announced that they will stop selling meat from castrated pigs. We expect that in 2011, 90% of Dutch boars sold for the Dutch market will not have been castrated. A significant improvement in animal welfare for millions of pigs.

With the help of other European animal welfare organisations, we would like to expand this successful campaign to the entire EU. July 1st, Belgium will become chairman of the EU. Our ambassador, the famous Belgium writer Dimitri Verhulst, is going to hand over a petition to the responsible Belgian minister. This petition will ask the EU to follow the good example in The Netherlands and ban castration of piglets in the entire EU. PLEASE JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN TODAY! Read the draft version of the petition here.

Background information

History in The Netherlands of the selling of uncastrated boar meat
In 2007 Coop supermarkets started selling meat from non-castrated boars. In 2008/2009 as a result of our pressure, other companies like Aldi Netherlands, Lidl Netherlands and McDonalds followed. In 2010, market leader Albert Heijn (share > 30%) and largest butcher C1000 followed. Between 2007 and April 2010, already ± 1.000.000 boars have not been castrated. There are hardly any complaints by consumers. The pig farmers are also very content: not castrating saves them work and money, because feed conversion is better, there is less manure and there are less costs.

Detection
Slaughterhouses Westfort (NL), Van Loon (NL), Tönnies (DE) and VION (NL and UK) use detection: an expert heats the carcass and ascertains if it gives off the distinctive ‘boar smell’. The approximately 1% carcasses with boar taint are always detected. The system works 100% proof for more than 50.000 non-castrated boars per week destined for the Dutch, British and even the German market.

Pork with boar smell
According to the various slaughterhouses the real ‘stinkers’ are detected in a percentage ranging from zero to 1,2% .The ‘stinkers’ are cooked, the smell disappears and the pork is sold - without financial loss - as pre-cooked products such as ham, salami and sausage.

Advantages and finances
Non-castration really benefits the welfare of the animals. Not only do they suffer less pain but it also benefits their health and they grow faster. The piglets are more lively and playful.

Financial benefit from not castrating a piglet is an estimated € 8 to € 15 per boar due to improved feed conversion, less manure and lower manure removal costs. The animals are healthier and need fewer medicines. In an interview in the magazine ‘Boerderij’ (the Farm) a large pig farmer estimates his benefit of non-castration at € 75,000 yearly.

Supermarket chain SdB states that the pork is tenderer, less fatty and of better quality, probably because the animals move more and have better muscles.

The costs for detection are less than € 2 per carcass.

Alternatives

1. CO2 anesthetic
In The Netherlands it is obligatory to use CO2 anesthetics when castrating. Both the University of Munich and the Association of Veterinary Anesthetists state that this kind of anesthetic makes the stress of the castration worse and does nothing for the animal’s welfare.

In a recent survey done by the Dutch ministry of Agriculture two thirds of the farmers questioned conclude – based on their own experiences - that CO2 anesthetic is very inadequate; they doubt that there is any advantage for the animal’s welfare and think it is costly and time consuming.

We did an experiment with human volunteers. They all experienced only one breath of CO2 as totally unbearable, let alone - as the piglets have to suffer - inhale it until unconsciousness. Only one person was able to inhale the gas twice. So using CO2 anesthetic is not a solution that improves animal welfare.

2. Improvac
Improvac is of course better than fully-fledged surgical castration, but:

- Just because pigs are treated with Improvac does not mean you don’t still have to test them at the slaughterhouse, because there is not a guarantee that Improvac hinders the production of boar smell by 100%. There is always the chance that the farmer doesn’t hit the muscle, or injects it superficially, or misses out one pig etc.. As well, there are three elements that cause boar smell and not all are directly linked to just the development of testicles!

- Improvac costs 3-5 euro per pig, so it more expensive than non-castration.

- Improvac has to be administered twice. This handling causes stress to the pigs, particularly the second time when they know what is coming. If it is injected incorrectly or a nerve is hit, it is also a welfare concern.

- There is hardly any support for Improvac among the retailers.

So this is neither a solution.

More Info

Varkens in Nood ("Pigs in Peril")
hans@varkensinnood.nl

+31 617 777 57