• "Where can I buy free-range pork, ham and bacon products?"
• "Does Animals Australia endorse any free-range or organic pork products?"
• "Is all ‘organic’ pork also ‘free-range’?"
• “Why are free-range pork, bacon, and ham products not freely available in all supermarkets, like free-range eggs are?" 
• “What if I can’t find free-range pork, ham, or bacon in my local store?” 
• “My butcher told me that all pork is free-range… or that there is no such thing”
• “How do I know if pork is factory farmed or free-range?”
• “Why are free-range products more expensive?”

"Where can I buy free-range pork, ham and bacon products?"
If you choose to continue eating pigs, look for products labeled as free-range or organic.  Specialist butchers may stock free-range pork products; if so, ask your butcher where he sources these products.  Most free-range piggeries have websites you can visit which will give you some information about the conditions in which the pigs are raised.

Free-range	Throughout their lives the pigs are provided with continuous free access to the outdoors and shelter from the elements furnished with bedding. This term may only be used when both the growing pigs and the sows from which they have been bred have been kept under these conditions
Bred free-range	Sows and boars ‘bred free range’ spend all their breeding lives in paddocks with shelters, rather than being confined indoors (in stalls, crates or groups pens). The piglets are born in ‘huts’ outdoors and once weaned are removed and raised either in ‘ecoshelters’ (large enclosures with litter floors) or penned in hard floored sheds, until taken for slaughter.

Since SaveBabe.com was launched, major supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths have started to stock a range of small-goods that are labeled as ‘Bred Free-Range’ in response to growing consumer demand.  Smallgoods manufacturer KR Castlemaine has also introduced a ‘Bred Free-Range’ product line.  These pigs will have been raised in systems that give more consideration to their natural behavioural and physical needs than factory farming systems.  This is a significant development which indicates that consumer awareness of the cruelty of factory farming is growing (see our page on alternatives).  But remember - all animals raised for food are transported and slaughtered in a similar way.

Australian free-range producers now have a website – www.freerangepork.com.au.  You can email them with any enquiries on enquiry@freerangepork.com.au .

"Does Animals Australia endorse any free-range or organic pork products?"
Animals Australia’s goal is to significantly and permanently improve the lives of animals in Australia – including those destined to be slaughtered for food.  Many Australians are unaware that our animal welfare laws fail to protect farm animals from acts of cruelty.  Since animals have no political ‘clout’ they are reliant on caring consumers to, through their choices, vote against cruelty.

As an animal protection organisation, Animals Australia does not endorse any meat or animal products.  We do, however, highlight to consumers more humane methods of farming and the alternative choice that these provide.  All animals killed for food - regardless of the quality of life provided to them - inevitably still face the fear and stress of transportation and premature slaughter.  For this reason, a growing number of people who care deeply about animals and who want to avoid contributing to their suffering choose not to eat animals at all. 

"Is all ‘organic’ pork also ‘free-range’?"
Yes - in order to achieve organic certification, pigs farmed organically must be free-range. However, organic ‘accreditation schemes’ usually impose further standards, such as a ban on teeth clipping, later weaning of piglets, and all organic schemes oppose the use of chemicals, antibiotics etc. 

“Why are free-range pork, bacon, and ham products not freely available in all supermarkets, like free-range eggs are?”
Free-range eggs became widely available in supermarkets due to consumer awareness of the lives endured by battery hens.  SaveBabe.com is the first campaign in Australia to alert consumers to the lives endured by factory farmed pigs.  As community awareness grows, and consumers demand more humanely produced products, supermarkets will respond – already this is occurring.  This highlights the importance of asking supermarket managers to stock more humanely produced products, if they don’t already do so. 

“What if I can’t find free-range pork, ham, or bacon in my local store?”
Ask your supermarket manager to stock a more humane alternative and tell him that you won’t purchase factory farmed products.

If free-range is not available don’t fall into the trap of buying factory-farmed meat!  The intensive pig industry believes that, if faced with the option of buying a cruelly-produced product or going without, you will succumb to temptation.  We must prove the industry wrong!  Caring about animals is not a passing fancy for Australians; it is a way of life.  The most powerful way to prove this to cruel animal industries is to not purchase their products.

 “My butcher told me that all pork is free-range… or that there is no such thing”
Animals Australia’s SaveBabe.com campaign has revealed that, prior to our campaign, there was a broad ignorance in the community regarding the primary method of pig farming in Australia.

We’ve discovered that even many butchers are completely unaware that 95% of Australian pigs are raised in factory farms.  Some butchers who are aware may defend the factory farmed products they stock by suggesting that free-range meat isn’t available.  This, of course, is untrue.  The best way to encourage your butcher to source free-range is to refuse to buy factory farmed meat from him.  If your butcher says that the pork he sells is free-range, ask him to tell you the source of the meat, as most free-range farms have websites that you can visit for more information.

“How do I know if pork is factory farmed or free-range?”
If pork, ham, or bacon products are not labeled ‘organic’, ‘free-range’, or ‘bred free-range’, they have been produced from animals reared in cruel factory farm systems.  Animals Australia has written to State and Federal agricultural ministers requesting that they introduce mandatory method of production labeling of all pork products allowing consumers to make informed choices.  You can help this campaign by writing to both the Federal minister your own State minister supporting our calls for compulsory labeling.

“Why are free-range products more expensive?”
Perhaps the question should be; why are factory farmed products cheaper?  What are factory farmed animals denied that results in a ‘cheaper’ supermarket product?  The answer is; any quality of life.  Similar to battery-hen eggs, factory farmed pig meat is cheaper because intensive systems operate on the basis of keeping as many animals as possible confined indoors, therefore maximizing the amount of ‘product’ produced.  Factory farmed products are cheaper because millions of animals are forced to endure miserable lives so that the pork industry can make the largest profit possible.

Links:

> Alternatives to Factory farming
> Save Babe information and campaign downloads
> www.freerangepork.com.au
> Make the Pro Pig Pledge!