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Do You Know Where Your Holiday Ham Comes From?

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Animal Wellness Action has a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty.... Read More

Plate with ham served on wooden table. Christmas dinner

It’s a long-held American holiday tradition to sit around the fire, sip hot cocoa, decorate our Christmas trees with lights and fancy ornaments, leave cookies out for Santa, and zone in on the thoughts of the typical holiday feast centerpiece: a scrumptious-looking glazed ham.

But as is the case almost every day, with no exception for the season, most Americans are asleep at the wheel when it comes to knowing where that holiday ham comes from, how it’s packed and produced, and most importantly, what the environment in which the pig who bore that ham was raised looks like.

The Reality of Pig Farms

It’s been my experience that most Americans, when they hear the name Smithfield, picture a happy hog rolling in mud puddles, gnawing on corn cobs and other delightful scraps like Wilbur, that “terrific, radiant, humble” pig we all know and love from E.B. White’s timeless classic Charlotte’s Web. In the tale, Wilbur is constantly worried about his death in anticipation of his slaughter, and while he’s ultimately able to escape that fate, the story leaves the reader with unsettling thoughts about the animals we raise for food, their quality of life, and the end-of-life they face.

But Wilbur’s concerns and the threat of death would seem like a vacation compared to the conditions under which most hogs are raised – the mother sows trapped in gestation crates with no room to stand up, turn around, or exhibit any of their natural behaviors, the pigs tightly crammed together in crowded warehouse-type barns. They’re factory-farmed, and if you think that holiday ham you’re about to purchase came from some happy farmer’s operation where the pig roamed spacious pastures and rolled in the mud, then you’re most likely mistaken. Many Americans have been duped by carefully created marketing schemes, mislabeling, and the misrepresentations of the foreign-owned conglomerates like Chinese Smithfield, Brazilian JBS, and others.

The Alternatives

These industry falsehoods are an affront not only to the animals raised but to the consumers who’ve carefully designed their holiday feast. And while there are tremendously wonderful alternatives like the maple glazed holiday vegan ham roast recipe by SunnsideHanne or Field Roast’s all-vegan ham-style roast sold in most organic markets and at stores like Whole Foods, I’m not suggesting that’s the only alternative choice you must make. There is a better way to find your ham. For consumers who eat animal products, an important first step is choosing products from farmers like Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Indiana, where Greg Gunthorp utilizes regenerative practices that allow for the preservation of the land and the highest level of care for the animals, who live in pastures and woodlands where they roam, root around, sleep, and play.

Many of these independent, humane-minded farmers and ranchers ensure that animals are born, raised, and slaughtered on site, never given antibiotics or other harmful drugs, and are pasture-raised with plenty of room to roam and graze.

It’s a stark contrast between Gunthorp’s products and Smithfield’s products raised in states like North Carolina, where much of the world’s pork is produced. Their industrial production practices not only pollute waterways and contribute significantly to the more than 400 dead zones that exist at river mouths worldwide, but they’re also propped up by government handouts, as we saw in 2018, when North Carolina saw devastating results from Hurricane Florence. Millions of animals, mostly pigs, chickens, and turkeys, were left behind to drown in the floodwaters, and wastewater contamination of the land while waterways surged. Smithfield and its contract growers, on the other hand, emerged unscathed, while the American taxpayer footed the bill.

What You Can Do

I’d ask that you thoughtfully consider these truths about what you’re likely glazing, baking, and slicing up for the family this holiday season. Visit your local farmers’ markets and take a step towards a healthier and more humane holiday by not only buying a better product, free from the negative energy absorbed by those hogs living in factory-farmed warehouses but one that helps Support our American family farmers, rather than a corporate giant from overseas squeezing every penny out of these hogs living in misery. You can and will make a difference, and you’ll feel a lot better about your choice.

Eating is a conscious and moral act. Every time we take a bite, we can play a role in having an impact on the local economy, the lives of family farmers, the environment, and the lives of billions of animals raised for consumption.

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