THE Government has this week released details of on-farm inspections from 2015, and they make depressing reading.

Of the hundreds of thousands of animal farms across Great Britain, just 1,681 were inspected throughout the whole year.

Although the figures offer sparse detail, pigs and ‘broiler’ chickens appear to be among the least inspected species, despite being the most intensively farmed.

Animal Aid has conducted dozens of on-farm inspections over the past decade and found suffering. Sows are still confined inside farrowing crates and chickens are still packed into sheds without daylight or fresh air.

For a nation of animal lovers, their treatment is a scandal. But so, too, is the paucity of official inspections when groups like Animal Aid routinely reveal so much suffering on British farms.

You can order a free Go Vegan pack by visiting animalaid.org.uk/go/veganpack

Isobel Hutchinson, Animal Aid