Poultry Welfare at Slaughter

Welfare during stunning and slaughter of poultry.

This paper describes research on the electrical stunning of poultry and the problems of achieving an effective humane stun with water bath stunners. The welfare and meat quality advantages of using gas mixtures to stun and kill birds are then described. The evidence strongly suggests that chickens and turkeys can be killed very humanely using either 90% argon in air or a mixture of 30% carbon d...

ADVANCING AQUACULTURE: Fish Welfare at Slaughter

Auditing animal welfare at slaughter plants.

The OIE Welfare Standards on slaughter transport, and killing of animals for disease control are basic minimum standards that every country should follow. The OIE, European Union, and many private standards used by commercial industry have an emphasis on animal based outcome standards instead of engineering based standards. Numerical scoring is used by both private industry and some governments...

An HSUS Report: The Welfare of Birds at Slaughter

The customary slaughter method of birds killed for human consumption involves the stunning of several live birds at one time using electrical water baths supplied with constant voltages. The birds are hung upside-down on shackles prior to conveyance through the electrified bath. This system, which is used globally, is increasingly under scrutiny as research suggests that it can be both inhumane...

Animal welfare at markets and during transport and slaughter.

This review highlights some recent developments in our understanding of stress and physical injuries that occur before and during transport to slaughter, during handling at livestock markets, and at the time animals are put-up for slaughter within abattoirs. Stress in pigs during transfer to the stunning point within the abattoir has important effects on meat quality, and there is growing evide...