A farm business which supplies free range pork to major supermarket chains has admitted animal offences after undercover footage captured staff bludgeoning pigs.

Norfolk Free Range, which is accredited by an RSPCA welfare scheme, provides meat to Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op, Aldi and Lidl.

The footage, which was taken over an eight-day period, caught workers attacking pigs with a long metal fencing pole, known as a hurdle pin, in two separate incidents.

One pig appeared to be left for dead in one of the attacks, which was shown in a documentary, Pignorant, produced by vegan animal activist Joey Carbstrong in 2022.

Two farm workers – a man and a woman – were subsequently sacked following the incidents at Harford Farm in Caistor St Edmund.

The business had denied six charges including failing in its duty to ensure animal welfare, allowing the killing of pigs without a licence, killing animals without the proper restraint and allowing workers to inflict blows and kicks on animals.

But it has now admitted breaching the 2015 Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Act on June 3, 2022.

This covers breaches of humane slaughter regulations that are designed to prevent animal suffering avoidable pain, distress or suffering.

The firm is owned by millionaire farming entrepreneur Steve Hart, 66, who won Farmers Weekly’s Pig Farmer of the Year award in 2016 on the strength of his championing of animal welfare, and his wife Sally Ann, 56. The couple did not face charges personally.

Mr Hart was a former a grain trader who used his last £500 to switch to pig rearing in the 1990s.

The business grew to have around 40 sites across East Anglia, with its headquarters based in Downham Market, producing about 2,000 pigs every year.

Norfolk Free Range, which made a profit of almost £4 million on a turnover of £9.2 million in the year to July 2024, is a member of the RSPCA’s Assured programme, which requires members to adhere to ‘higher welfare’ standards.

Harford Farm was not RSPCA Assured when the covert footage was taken but were certified afterwards.

When the footage came to light the RSPCA suspended their membership, reinstating them in January 2024 after an investigation and several inspections were carried out, noting that there had been a change in ownership since the incident. 

A manager at one of the firm’s pig units won an RSPCA award for ‘excellence in higher farm animal welfare’ in 2021.

Mr Carbstrong told the Mail: 'The conviction against Norfolk Free Range Limited is welcome and I am pleased that Trading Standards pursued this action. 

'However, the fact that Norfolk Free Range, the company may only receive a fine and that the individuals who directly caused the horror were not personally prosecuted or subject to a criminal conviction, does not in my view achieve full justice for those animals.'

He added: 'Steve Hart and Norfolk Free Range have been allowed to continue their business as usual and have since made huge amounts of money...

'Our investigations have shown, time and again, that whether free-range or otherwise, the abuses are systemic across the entire industry and if it wasn't for whistleblowers and independent investigators on the ground, none of this would ever come to light.'

The company said in a statement: 'The company has been let down appallingly by two ex-employees who chose to ignore their training and the company's strict policies and procedures, committing acts of cruelty which were abhorrent. 

'There is no place for such behaviour in our industry and as soon as we became aware of this incident their employment was immediately terminated.

'The company has admitted a single offence whereby it has legal responsibility for the actions of those employees just because their acts took place - there was no evidence of any fault, negligence or intent on behalf of the company.

'Norfolk Free Range will continue to do what it has always done - work tirelessly to ensure every animal's welfare remains front and centre in everything it does.'

Sentencing will take place at Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court on July 16.