Animal welfare has long been a concern for pork producers and, more recently, for consumers. Today’s confinement pork production systems are often criticized on the grounds of animal cruelty and negative environmental impacts.

The way most pigs are raised today, they…

• never see the light of day

• never step on grass, only bare hard floors

• breathe air that is poisoned by gasses produced by manure

• spend their entire lives inside metal cages so small they cannot turn around

• are fed constant, low-level antibiotics just to keep them from getting sick