A Victorian parliamentary committee will investigate pig welfare in the state months after activists allegedly broke into abattoirs and illegally filmed animals being stunned prior to slaughter.
The economy and infrastructure upper house committee will start the inquiry later this year.
Animal Justice Party MP and committee chair Georgie Purcell introduced the motion to launch the inquiry.
She says the investigation will focus on carbon dioxide gassing methods used in abattoirs and forms of confinement, including sow stalls and gestation crates.
In April, seven animal activists were charged with trespassing after they allegedly broke into an abattoir in north-east Victoria and chained themselves to machinery.
The Farm Transparency Project members chained themselves to a gas chamber used to paralyse pigs before processing.
The practice is legal and common in in the industry.
The protest in Benalla came after footage of the industry's slaughtering process was aired on ABC TV's 7.30 current affairs program in March.
Eighty-five per cent of Australian pigs are stunned before slaughter by being slowly exposed to a carbon dioxide (CO2) gas solution that puts them to sleep before they are killed.
Ms Purcell said the illegally obtained footage from activists prompted her to push for the inquiry.
"I was driven to make this referral out of deep concern of the scenes that have come to light lately of pigs being gassed in Victorian slaughterhouses," she said.
"I know that I'm not alone in that.
"There have been concerns from the pork industry themselves, with a number of pig producers being concerned that they are sending their animals there.
"We've even had pig farmers say that they'll no longer do it."
Ms Purcell told ABC Rural the inquiry motion passed with support from the Labor Party, the Greens and David Limbrick from the Liberal Democrats party.
Two Liberal Party members voted against the motion and Coalition MP Bev McArthur was absent.
The Victorian Farmers Federation has been contacted for comment.
