Pigs are traded internationally both as live animals and as meat products, with welfare standards varying dramatically across producing and importing countries. Understanding the global pig trade illuminates welfare gaps in international food systems.
The global pig trade welfare challenge is the same as for other livestock: welfare standards enforced domestically do not apply to imports, creating competitive disadvantage for high-welfare producers and welfare washing for consumers who believe country-of-origin purchasing meets welfare standards. EU producers operating under gestation crate bans compete against imported pork from countries using gestation crates. Consumers in high-welfare-standard countries who purchase pork may be consuming products from conditions illegal domestically. The solution requires import welfare equivalence requirements — insisting that imported products meet the same welfare standards as domestic products — which the EU has been exploring but not yet implementing comprehensively. Trade agreements that do not include welfare equivalence provisions undermine domestic welfare reform by enabling production displacement.