Cruelty claims knock £150m off pork producer Cranswick after second Mail probe at its farms

More than £150million was wiped off Cranswick’s value after a second Mail on Sunday investigation into animal cruelty at its farms.

Shares in the pork producer tumbled as much as 5 per cent yesterday after an exposé revealed workers at Somerby Top Farm in Lincolnshire routinely hitting pigs and overseeing botched killings of piglets.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons cut ties with the site following the harrowing footage recorded by the Animal Justice Project.

However, the supermarkets are still sourcing meat from other farms owned by Cranswick, one of Britain’s biggest pork producers.

It is the second time this year that The Mail on Sunday has exposed shocking animal abuse at one of the FTSE 250 firm’s suppliers.

The share price slump in early trading wiped £155million off the value of Cranswick. 

The shares clawed back some of the losses to close down 0.8 per cent.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘This is both a reputational risk for Cranswick and a supply worry.

‘Recurring controversies can signal to investors that there is a deeper problem with policy implementation.’

In May, the newspaper obtained footage that appeared to show farm workers in Lincolnshire grabbing piglets by their hind legs and smashing them to the ground. 

The harrowing videos filmed by the Animal Justice Project at Northmoor Farm, also in Lincolnshire, showed sows being kicked and beaten as well as botched killings. 

The report claimed that piglets are killed if they are the runts of the litter and not growing fast enough to be profitable.

Following the horrific revelations, Cranswick suspended workers at the farm and carried out an ‘urgent and thorough investigation’.

But new footage from Somerby Top Farm showed workers hitting pigs with boards, paddles and their fists, deliberately targeting areas such as their snout and eyes.

One piglet was left dying for 33 hours as other piglets cannibalised an open wound.

A Cranswick spokesman said: ‘We find the treatment of the pigs in the footage distressing to watch and we apologise unreservedly for this lapse in our standards.

‘It does not in any way reflect the operating practices at our farms today.’