Rat-infested pig farm sparks health risk fears

THE firm behind one of Scotland’s largest pig farms will escape prosecution despite secret video footage which revealed animals were living in rat-infested conditions.

Animal welfare investigators found pigs tearing at the flesh of a dead pig while hundreds of rats scurried around the pens at Ormiston Farm in West Lothian, run by Scotpigs, one of the country’s leading pork producers.

Other pigs were knee-deep in their own waste while dozens of dead rats were scattered across the piggery floor.

The findings have raised serious questions of public health and safety, particularly in the wake of the foot-and-mouth and BSE outbreaks.

Professor Hugh Pennington, who is widely regarded as Britain’s leading food-safety expert, described the conditions as a "classic nightmare" that could prove to be a risk to the human food chain. He said: "Top of my list of worries would be salmonella, which can easily be passed onto the pigs from rats. There is a real contamination issue here because anyone handling pig carcasses could easily spread salmonella to other foods."

Prof Pennington said staff at the farm were also at risk from leptospirosis, which is spread from rats’ urine.

He added: "There are other hazards, such as foot-and-mouth, the first cases of which were from a badly-run piggery. Pigs are extremely efficient spreaders of the virus and conditions such as these could spark another outbreak."

The 15-minute video was yesterday passed to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose inspectors subsequently spent several hours at the piggery to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for charges to be brought. But Mike Flynn, an SSPCA superintendent, said the inspection failed to find the problems identified in the video, which was more than a week old.

He said many of the issues, such as the rat infestation, stemmed from the "dilapidated" condition of the building, and he added: "Although the pigs were dirty, they were physically OK. We found nothing to indicate the suffering suggested in the video."

Les Ward, a director of Advocates for Animals, said: "This is something we couldn’t believe was going on especially as we have just come out of a foot-and-mouth outbreak."

Scotpigs, which has farms across the country, is headed by Arthur Simmers, nicknamed the Pig King because of his control over pork production. Mr Simmers appeared in court on charges of pig cruelty in 1995, but was cleared.

A spokeswoman for the firm yesterday stated: "The company does not wish to make any comment at this time. We will be carrying out an internal investigation."