FEEDING OUR KIDS HOGWASH
Teaching kids about their food is a great idea, right? Not always… The United States’ National Pork Board (which represents the interests of pig farmers) has created a kids’ coloring book that’s seriously misleading!
HIDING THE RAW TRUTH OF FACTORY FARMING
Take page six – the main character, Billy, who is visiting an intensive pig farm, asks “where is all the mud?” The reply? “Producers keep all of their barnscafo clean so the pigs stay healthy and happy”.
Happy? This couldn’t be further from the truth. Factory farmed pigs suffer from welfare problems, such as frustration, stress and lameness. And to make matters worse, the pigs often attack each other because they are so bored, biting each other’s tails. To tackle this problem, piglets commonly have their tails docked – carried out without any pain relief. Is this really going to make them happy?
And this ‘creativity’ with the truth doesn’t just stop at animal welfare. The coloring book also suggests that intensive pig farming has environmental benefits. However, it’s been claimed that ‘a single [factory farm] housing 5,000 pigs produces the same volume of raw sewage as a town of 20,000…’1 Even the US Government accepts that such waste ‘increases the potential to impact air, water, and land quality’ and that ‘failures to properly manage manure and wastewater at CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) can negatively impact the environment…’2
EXPOSING THE HOGWASH
The National Pig Board’s coloring book paints a rosy picture of intensive pig farming. But look behind the gloss and the truth becomes clear – this book contains some serious hogwash.
In a decade or two, today’s children will be buying food for their families. We can’t let it be cruel, polluting, intensively farmed pork.
FIND MORE INFORMATION AND GET INVOLVERD ON RAW – THE TRUTH ABOUT FACTOR FARMING
