Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have suspended supplies from Somerby Top Farm in Lincolnshire after covert footage showed workers kicking piglets and hitting them with boards and paddles. The footage, filmed by the Animal Justice Project (AJP) between May 2024 and January 2025, also revealed injured pigs with open wounds in pens covered in faeces, with some left lame and writhing in pain.
The farm was bought by Cranswick, Britain’s largest pork supplier, in late 2023 and was audited and certified by the Red Tractor assurance scheme in October 2024. AJP claims that legally required welfare checks were often ignored, with official inspections of 1,000 pigs taking as little as 90 seconds. The footage allegedly showed multiple botched killings of lame piglets, leaving them in agony for over 30 seconds after being shot.
One piglet with an open wound was reportedly left dying for 33 hours as other piglets cannibalised the wound. The narrator of the AJP film stated that despite a Red Tractor audit during the filming period, squalid conditions persisted two weeks later. Red Tractor has suspended the farm’s certification with immediate effect and referred the case to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Cranswick said it was horrified by the treatment and has launched an investigation. The company stated that staff involved are no longer with the business. It has also installed CCTV at all its indoor pig farms, recruited five new welfare officers, retrained workers, and commissioned an independent veterinary review since a previous abuse case at another farm in May 2024.
Morrisons said the allegations were disturbing and unacceptable, and that it had immediately suspended supply from the farm. The other supermarkets have also confirmed their suspensions pending further investigation.
