European legislation states that after stunning regular checks should be performed to guarantee animals are unconscious between the end of the stunning process and death. When animals are killed without prior stunning these checks should be performed before the animal is released from restraint. The validity of certain indicators used to assess unconsciousness under different stunning and slaug...

2. In the case of poultry, the Committee considered two methods for gas stunning and killing poultry (Argon 1: >90% argon in air; Argon 2: a mixture of >60% argon and 30% CO2 in air). Insufficient scientific information was available to consider other gas mixtures that could be used for stunning poultry species, although there was some evidence that some methods using carbon dioxide were inadeq...

This presentation summarizes methods available for killing poultry during outbreaks of epizootic or zoonotic diseases. Available methods for killing poultry are listed and discussed with relation to practical aspects, biosecurity, animal welfare, occupational hazards and other pros and cons of each method. The stunning methods mentioned are blow to the head, electrical stunning and captive bold...

Pectoralis muscle quality was evaluated from 18-wk-old tom turkeys after electrical stun, carbon dioxide stun, or no stun methods were applied. Color was measured on raw muscle and cooked meat using a colorimeter. Muscle pH was measured 15 min post-mortem (initial), 24 h post-mortem (final), and after cooking. The right Pectoralis muscle of each carcass was excised for m-calpain analysis within...

This study provides a comparative analysis of the effects of pre-slaughter penetrative and non-penetrative stunning and post-slaughter stunning on meat quality attributes in longissimus lumborum (LL) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles in heifers. Ten animals were assigned to each of four treatment groups: i) animals were subjected to conventional Halal slaughter (a clean incision through the struc...

that will render the animal unconscious until sticking causes it to die through exsanguination. The basic principle is that an electric current is passed through the brain, disrupting the normal brain function. There are two basic methods of delivery—head only, and head-to-back. Stunning currents are supplied either as alternating currents (AC) or pulsed direct current (DC). The usual frequency...

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy, in contrast to acute myocardial infarction, is a type of heart failure characterized by reversible left ventricular dysfunction. Cardiac imaging primarily reveals ventricle stunning, 81.7% which apical type. Emotional or psychological stress usually precedes the onset stress-induced increasingly being recognized as unique neurogenic stunning disease. To distinguis...