The Serious Welfare Problems of Electrical Stunning for Poultry and the Case for Gas Killing as a Means for More

The practice of electrically stunning poultry, which is standard in slaughterhouses across North America 1, results in both poor welfare and carcass degradation. In terms of welfare, the many variables and frequent process failures associated with electrical stunning methods make it difficult to ensure adequate stunning and result in pain and suffering for birds who experience prestun shocks, have their necks sliced open, and are dipped in scalding hot water, often while still fully conscious. Furthermore, the uncrating, shackling, and conveying of live birds, which always precedes electrical stunning, has been shown to cause severe stress and leads to a decrease in meat quality. On the other hand, the gas killing of poultry using a mixture of 90 percent argon in air with less than 2 percent residual oxygen, while not perfect, helps to significantly alleviate many of these animal welfare and carcassquality issues and should be adopted by producers.