SIR – The current horsemeat scandal is only the tip of the iceberg.

Apart from higher welfare products which are labelled free range or organic, most of the meat in our supermarkets gives us little or no information about the welfare of the animals that are reared for our plates and some labels are downright misleading.

This means that without our knowledge we could be eating pork which has come from pigs housed in overcrowded, barren pens with no bedding.

Naturally curious animals, they have nothing to investigate or root about in, leading to boredom and frustration.

Deprived of a natural environment, they can resort to biting each other and this can result in the painful practice of tail docking without anaesthetic.

We could be eating chickens which live their lives in overcrowded sheds with no access to the outside.

The average chicken could be one of the 27 per cent that Defra estimates go lame before they are sent to slaughter. That is an awful lot of birds living their lives in pain – about 200 million a year.

I support Compassion in World Farming’s campaign to get compulsory labelling of all animal products so that we can be properly informed about where and how animals are reared, how long they have been transported for and how they were killed.

The EU egg-labelling regulation has been a success and is a key factor behind the move away from battery eggs to the buying of free range eggs. Millions of people who care about animals are often unwittingly buying factory farmed food.

Consumers are entitled to honest and clear information about what they are eating.

JULIA E ALDRIDGE

Norton