A commercial pig feed is the best choice for your pigs. However, some pig owners choose to recycle and reduce waste by feeding their pigs food scraps. This is a great way to reduce waste, provided you avoid swill feeding (see below).
Appropriate recycled foods for pigs include:
Swill, the traditional name for all prohibited pig feed, is food waste containing meat or any other mammalian products or by-products, excluding milk. This also includes imported dairy products and any foods that have been in contact with meat, such as leftover vegetables on a plate from a Sunday roast, or even the leftover ham and cheese roll.
Swill could contain viruses such as African swine fever, foot and mouth disease and Aujeszky’s disease, all of which could have far reaching impacts on Australia’s livestock industry. Avoiding swill is a simple case of ‘prevention is much better and cheaper than the cure’.
It is believed that swill fed to pigs may have caused the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK in 2001.
Swill feeding is also illegal, with significant penalties applying.
A number of state and territory governments, together with Australian Pork Limited, have put together their own swill feeding material. The list below provides specific swill information from each jurisdiction.
A business guide to managing the biosecurity risks of food recycling in Australia
Sample Agreement for Food Recycling Program
Australian Pork Limited
Swill feeding – it’s illegal
Safe use of fats and oils in stock feed
New South Wales
PrimeFact: Swill feeding (being updated)
African Swine Fever webpage
Responsible disposal of food waste: A4
Responsible disposal of food waste: DL
Northern Territory
Tasmania
Pigs and the smallholder
The backyard pig – DPIPWE’s guide for hobby farmers
Swill and restricted animal materials feeding
Victoria
Feeding prohibited pig feed
Pig health and welfare programs
Western Australia
Pig feed: why it is illegal to feed food scraps (swill) to pigs
Queensland
Laws against supplying and feeding swill to pigs
Make sure your pigs eat the right thing – for people who own pigs
Make sure pigs eat the right thing – for food outlets
South Australia
