Auditing animal welfare at slaughter plants

Area of Science:

• Animal Welfare Science
• Veterinary Public Health
• Food Safety Assurance

Background:

• International (OIE) and European Union (EU) standards provide minimum guidelines for animal welfare during slaughter, transport, and disease control.
• Commercial industries and governments increasingly utilize animal-based outcome measures over engineering-based standards for welfare assessment.
• Numerical scoring systems are employed to evaluate animal welfare at slaughter plants, focusing on critical control points.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline key variables for assessing animal welfare at slaughter plants.
• To highlight the importance of outcome-based standards in animal welfare auditing.
• To identify on-farm and transport issues measurable at the slaughter plant.

Main Methods:

• Measurement of five critical control points: stunning effectiveness, insensibility, vocalization, falling, and electric goad use.
• Auditing systems that prohibit severe mishandling practices like dragging, dropping, throwing, puntilla, and hoisting live animals.
• Assessment of on-farm and transport conditions through indicators observable at slaughter, such as lameness, thinness, dirtiness, lesions, mortality, morbidity, and injuries.

Main Results:

• Five key variables provide insights into the effectiveness of stunning and handling processes.
• Prohibition of severe mistreatment practices is a component of robust welfare auditing.
• Observable indicators at slaughter can reflect pre-slaughter animal health and handling conditions.

Conclusions:

• Outcome-based animal welfare standards, particularly those measured numerically at slaughter, are essential for ensuring humane practices.
• Comprehensive auditing systems should integrate both process controls and observable animal outcomes.
• Slaughter plant data can serve as a valuable tool for monitoring and improving animal welfare throughout the production chain.