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 dioxide and 60% argon in air.
Raj
M
M
Division of Food Animal Science, University of Bristol, Langford, United Kingdom. m.raj@bristol.ac.uk
D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001128:Argon / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D004597:Electroshock; D005525:Food-Processing Industry; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D011202:Poultry Products; D014422:Turkeys / Q000502:physiology*
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D001128:Argon