Activists from Animal Justice Project have stormed the stage at Tesco’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at the supermarket’s headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, calling on the retail giant to sever ties with Cranswick plc. The action follows AJP’s undercover exposé at Northmoor Farm – a Cranswick-owned ‘mega pig farm’ supplying Tesco – which the group says revealed “widespread illegal practices, systemic animal abuse and severe suffering.” The investigation made national headlines and prompted a sharp fall in Cranswick’s share price.
Protesters held large signs reading: “Tesco: Drop Cranswick Over Pig Abuses!” as they interrupted proceedings inside the AGM.
The action marks the latest escalation in Animal Justice Project’s high-profile Project Pig campaign, which continues to expose routine cruelty within the UK pig industry. Following the investigation, which featured across national newspapers, TV, and radio, Tesco suspended supply from Northmoor Farm – yet it continues to partner with Cranswick, the UK’s largest pork processor.
Tesco’s Cranswick Partnership Under Fire
Earlier this year, Tesco relaunched its Tesco Sustainable Pig Group (TSPG) in partnership with Cranswick, claiming the scheme would “incentivise animal welfare, encourage innovation and uphold quality standards.” But in May 2025, Animal Justice Project released damning undercover footage from Cranswick’s 6,000-pig Northmoor Farm in Lincolnshire, published exclusively in the Mail on Sunday. Footage revealed piglets being illegally killed via blunt force trauma – a method known as “thumping” that has been banned for years under The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015. Cranswick has yet to explain how it will prevent this unlawful practice across its farms.
The exposé wiped £250 million off Cranswick’s market value in just 24 hours and triggered the company to launch an “independent review into its animal welfare policies and livestock operations.”
Animal Justice Project has filed a formal complaint with Trading Standards and says it is prepared to pursue a private prosecution if authorities fail to act.
Other serious findings included workers beating pigs with metal bars and plastic spades, botched killings leaving animals screaming in agony, and pigs left to suffer untreated with prolapses, hernias, lameness, respiratory infections, and open wounds.
Animal Justice Project says today’s disruption sends a clear message: Tesco must take responsibility for the suffering in its supply chain and end its partnership with Cranswick.
Ayrton Cooper, Campaigns Manager, Animal Justice Project:
“Today’s disruption sends a clear message to Tesco: it has a golden opportunity to lead by example and cut ties with a company that puts profit before animal welfare. By continuing its partnership with Cranswick, Tesco is endorsing law-breaking, widespread suffering, and corporate impunity. If it’s serious about protecting its reputation, Tesco must show the pig industry that abuse and illegality will no longer be tolerated.”
