What happened with the images from Swedish pig factories?
Public outrage, animal‑welfare inspections, and silence from the politicians. Here’s what happened with Project 1882’s images from inside Swedish pig factories.
If you happened to stand on a subway platform in Stockholm in December, two completely different worlds collided in front of your eyes. One advertising screen showed a close‑up of Christmas ham with the slogan A tastier Christmas, next to the round blue‑and‑yellow seal Meat from Sweden. On the next screen, you instead locked eyes with a pig in a Swedish factory farm. Above the train tracks, a panorama showed young pigs covered in each other’s dried faeces.
The public reactions to Project 1882’s images from the pig factories sounded like this:
This is animal torture.
I’m ashamed of being human.
Hell on earth.
I can’t understand how this is legal in Sweden.
Imagine if we treated dogs this way.
You might also have seen glimpses of the pigs’ daily reality while on the train, in city squares, while waiting for the bus, or in ads while scrolling on social media.
Benny Andersson, CEO of Project 1882, is pleased that the organization dared to make a bold move during the very period when Christmas ham and sausages are marketed most aggressively.
– The big animal agriculture industry has far greater financial resources than we do. Project 1882 receives no subsidies and no government funding – everything we do is thanks to our members and donors. Their support made it possible for us to show the public the reality animals face and to secure space in central locations during the busy holiday season. In places where people are usually met with an uncritical, sanitized image of animal products, they instead got to see who truly pays the price, says Benny Andersson.
The collection of images shows dead piglets scattered around the barns, floors soaked in manure, and pigs covered in filth. Limping animals, eye infections, massive umbilical hernias, bitten‑off tails, bored pigs chewing on steel bars or on their siblings’ tails. The common theme: a life lived on bare concrete, with no straw for bedding or enrichment.
Following the documentation, Project 1882 filed reports both with the police and with the County Administrative Board, the regional authority responsible for enforcing Sweden’s animal‑welfare legislation. According to indications from the legal system, a preliminary investigation may have been initiated. One regional County Administrative Board conducted inspections at three of the four facilities featured in the footage. All three cases have now been closed – without any action taken.
Despite the setbacks, Benny Andersson says it remains crucial not to lose sight of what can still be achieved.
– Everyone who cares about animals needs to get organized. When we speak up together, we really can make a difference – just like when we stopped the Swedish government's attempt to abolish cows’ grazing rights. That momentum carried into this campaign. The drive and energy have been incredible, and that gives me hope for the future. Our goal was to increase awareness of the animals’ lives, and together we’ve shown that pigs belong in our hearts – not on our plates.
Read more:
Shocking footage reveals animal cruelty inside Swedish pig factories
Cows’ grazing rights secured – for now
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