Greens push for 'cruelty -free' Christmas feed

23 November 2009

The Australian Greens may have just made the Christmas lunch political, by urging consumers to take a stance against what they've described as "the miserable lives of millions of farm animals".

The Greens are backing an Animals Australia campaign against factory farming.

The campaign includes a television advert which shows a shopper picking up a piece of pork off a supermarket shelf. When she looks up from her shopping list, she finds herself in a shed housing dirty squealing pigs, all bunched together.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewart says consumers should choose free-range and cruelty-free products or a vegetarian option for Christmas this year.

But Andrew Spencer, from Australian Pork Limited, says the political party and animal liberationists are ignoring an important fact.

"No one is more concerned about the welfare of pigs than pig producers, and they do it very well because it's their livelihood," he says.

Mr Spencer says the Animals Australia campaign is a misrepresentation of what happens on pig farms.

He says it's important to note that Animals Australia has a vegetarian agenda and they're trying to put all animal-based industries out of business.

The Greens are calling for an accurate national labelling system which identifies cruelty-free products.

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