Vegetarian Star

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver made waves in the UK recently for criticizing the quality of foods in his native land from school lunches to the dinner table. Now he wants everyone to understand the conditions pigs endure before they arrive on their plate.

Oliver and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) are calling upon the European Union to set minimum welfare standards for pig farmers and demand more honest labeling of foods that indicate how the pigs were reared. Unlike free-range chicken, there is currently no definition of free range pork.

Throughout the month of January, Oliver will be uncovering investigations revealing how pigs are treated on some farms in the UK, which includes undesirable practices such as castrating pigs without anaesthetic and preventing pregnant animals from moving.

The RSPCA hopes the program, titled “Jamie Saves Our Bacon,” will incite people to start buying pork reared in more ethical environments, such as a similar program by chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall did to increase the sales of chickens reared with higher welfare standards.

Hopefully, Oliver’s attention to the matter will produce a U.S. Prop 2-like overhaul in the UK.

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