It's always exciting to see which photos cause outrage on social media. Like the photos of vacuum-sealed suckling pigs.

The most important things about suckling pig in brief:

  • Suckling pigs are young pigs
  • These can also be sold vacuum packed in food retailers
  • Origin of photo on social media cannot be determined

Meat consumption is repeatedly criticized for medical as well as ethical reasons. In order to support the arguments against meat consumption, there are not only factual content but also lurid representations.

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One of these lurid posts is a photo of a vacuum-sealed suckling pig. This is on a shelf in a supermarket. To reinforce the visual message, the photo itself bears the note “These are babies!”

There is also a description of the sharepic. This reads: “Not somewhere in Asia… that’s GERMANY!” Here is the relevant posting:

Fact check suckling pig

Basically, something about the definition of a suckling pig: Yes, a suckling pig (or also called a milk pig because it is still being suckled) is always a young pig/piglet that is slaughtered 5 - 8 weeks after birth. The weight is between 5 and 30 kilograms, which is not specified.

So much for the definition. Ergo: Yes, it is a young animal. This is intentional because the meat is considered tender. Suckling pigs are usually gutted and then grilled whole.

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Vacuum sealed?

It is very rare to find suckling pigs in the self-service section of a supermarket. If you are looking for a suckling pig, you are more likely to find it at the butcher. Nevertheless, you can buy them in the supermarket, preferably the smaller piglets weighing around 5kg.

Since they cannot be stored as fresh produce in the self-service area, the animals are vacuum-sealed accordingly. And that's exactly what we see in the sharepic shown above. They are actually vacuum-packed suckling pigs that are offered for sale.

Of course, the exact origin cannot be determined from the photo, but it cannot be ruled out that this is the case in Germany, at least in Europe. Various reference photos also show vacuum-packed piglets in a supermarket ( here or here ).

This is not new!

Based on the reactions to the vacuum-sealed suckling pigs, you can see that many people give very little thought to the processes in the meat and sausage industry. Vacuum-sealed piglets are also sold in Germany; the Schweriner Zeitung, for example, published a commentary on it in 2012 ( see here ).

Basically , the images conveyed in TV or print advertising with smiling piglets or grinning cows have absolutely nothing to do with industrial slaughter. You should always keep this in mind, especially if you tend to grab the cheapest package of meat at the discount store.

This might also be of interest:

Not fake – bananas individually wrapped in plastic

Article image symbolic image suckling pig: Shutterstock / By Volodymyr Burdiak


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )