Cruelty to abattoir pigs makes up a skerrick of Victorian livestock welfare complaints, but some standard practices have gone unchallenged for decades, an inquiry has heard.
Roughly 0.1 per cent of the 8000 animal welfare complaints to Agriculture Victoria since 2018 related to pigs in abattoirs, while almost seven times that amount related to pigs on farms.
"Certainly, it's a very small proportion of the complaints we've received," Agriculture Victoria's Katherine Clift told Victoria's inquiry into pig welfare.
"The most common complaints that we receive relate to matters of available food and water and shelter."
Inquiry chair and Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell asked if this related more to industry secrecy than the frequency of breaches.
"How do you propose people report cruelty when there is no ... transparency measures in the industry for them to know that cruelty is occurring?"
Ms Clift said Agriculture Victoria received cruelty reports from a range of groups and organisations, and said anyone with animal welfare concerns should contact the department.
Requiring CCTV surveillance at abattoirs is being considered as part of an overhaul of national livestock processing standards.
RSPCA Victoria has called for remote surveillance at abattoirs, along with a legislated end to the use of sow stalls and the phase-out of conventional farrowing stalls.
About 88 per cent of piggeries registered with Australian Pork Limited have phased out the use of sow stalls - used to protect pregnant sows from fighting - for periods of more than five days.
"Pigs must be provided with sufficient space to allow pigs to move freely and perform highly motivated behaviours," RSPCA Victoria said in its submission.
The animal welfare group also recommended updated standards for pig welfare, and phasing out side-loader (single file) carbon dioxide stunning systems to minimise pre-slaughter stress.
RSPCA's Victoria's policy and advocacy manager Mhairi Roberts said there was room for continuous improvement in animal welfare regulations.
"We have a lot of codes of practice under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act - some of them are very, very old," Ms Roberts said.
"Possibly some of them haven't been reviewed in decades."
Standard industry practices, such as blunt force euthanasia of piglets, and teeth-cutting and tail-docking without pain relief have been under the inquiry's spotlight.
