Piglets Rot on Farms Linked to Parma Ham

Shocking new eyewitness footage released by Italian animal protection group Essere Animali reveals pigs languishing in deplorable conditions on 11 intensive farms located in Lombardy and Veneto. According to the group, the farms are linked to Levoni, one of Italy’s biggest cured meat producers. This video will shock any decent person who sees it:

Levoni’s Parma ham and other branded meat products are exported to many countries, including the UK, where they’re sold in restaurants and delis. Please share this blog post and the video above with your friends and avoid Parma ham and all other products made of the flesh of pigs or other animals.

Animals’ Wounds Remain Untreated, and Corpses Are Left to Rot

Behind every slice of Parma ham or other meat product was a sensitive individual who endured appalling neglect and abuse in the industrialised meat industry. Here’s just some of the filth, neglect, and cruelty that Essere Animali has documented:

Mother pigs are confined to cages, and bloody piglet corpses are left to rot in enclosures containing live piglets.

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

The investigation shows pigs with painful and untreated abdominal hernias, lesions, ulcers, or abscesses.

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

Essere Animali

A worm and cockroach infestation was seen near the animals’ enclosures, including in close proximity to their feeders.

Essere Animali has submitted official cruelty reports to local authorities.

Abuse Is the Norm on Pig Farms

The abuse documented in this footage is common in the meat industry, which treats sensitive, intelligent pigs as mere commodities. On factory farms, workers often clip or grind down piglets’ teeth and cut off their tails without using painkillers. Before they give birth, mother pigs like those seen in the video are confined to gestation crates so small they can’t even turn around, let alone fulfil their strong urge to build a nest as they would naturally do.

They’re forcibly impregnated over and over again, and each litter of piglets is torn away from their mother after only a few weeks and transported to fattening pens before eventually being sent for slaughter.

Misleading labels like “high-welfare” are designed to ease consumer guilt and in no way help the animals. In Northern Ireland, pigs on a “high-welfare” farm – with “Red Tractor” certification – were filmed with gaping wounds and bloodied faces, while pigs on RSPCA-Assured farms were found lying dead in the middle of pen aisles.

You Are Responsible for Reducing Animal Suffering

The only way to avoid contributing to the systemic suffering of animals on farms is to leave them off your plate. Stop eating pigs, and choose delicious vegan foods instead.