ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE: PIG

Animal welfare is important to us and we want to make sure animals have good living conditions. All the Finnish pig farms in our contract production are part of the national pig farm health classification register Sikava (ISO 9001 certified) and the assessment of pig welfare is based on the fundamental principles of the scientific Welfare Quality® system.

The well-being of production animals consists of many factors. We work to improve animal health and welfare in cooperation with primary producers, transportation partners, authorities, Eläinten Terveys ry and Sikava. Treating animals well is important to us for various reasons: it corresponds to our ethical principles and supports sustainable development of our operations, leading to profitable growth.

Our contract production farms are committed to following HKFoods guidelines, in addition to the regulations set by the EU and national laws and regulations. Our contract facilities meet the national level requirements of Sikava's health care system.

Animal welfare based on good care

Pigs are naturally social animals interested in exploring their environment. Pigs also have an established hierarchy within their group. A special characteristic about pigs is that they are unable to perspire like most mammals, and the temperature in a pen needs to be set accordingly.

We want to make sure animals have good living conditions. That is why we observe and are actively involved in research projects concerning the species-typical behavior of pigs. In addition, we monitor Sikava's animal welfare index on a farm-by-farm basis and use this information in our advisory work.

THE CORNERSTONES OF ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE

We follow animal welfare research and legislation and constantly improve the level of animal welfare.

We have participated in the development of national systems such as Sikava and Laatuvastuu in Finland, to ensure a good level of animal health and welfare and continuous improvement on production farms.

WE USE SIKAVA'S WELL-BEING INDEX IN OUR CONTRACT PRODUCTION

The welfare index is based on the Welfare Quality^®and describes the state of animal welfare holistically on the farm. These factors are the basis for good animal health and welfare at HKFoods:

Feeding: no prolonged thirst or hunger
Housing: comfortable thermal and resting conditions, ease of movement
Health: no injuries, no disease, no painful management procedures
Behavior: opportunity for natural behavior, good relationship between people and animals

A LIGHTER CARBON FOOTPRINT

The carbon footprint result of pigs calculated from the data of 2022 was 3.4 kg CO2e per kilogram of live weight of the animal.* The calculations are based on the latest ISO standardized methods and IPCC calculation guidelines. The calculation takes into account the carbon footprint of production from the field to the gate of the production facility. In addition to carbon dioxide, the carbon footprint includes, among other things, methane and nitrous oxide converted into carbon dioxide equivalents.

* The results are reported as mass-allocated kg CO₂e / kg live weight.