Slaughter, stunning, general requirements - UK Soil Association Organic Standards 2005

Padel, Susanne and Lowman, Steve (2005) Slaughter, stunning, general requirements - UK Soil Association Organic Standards 2005. [Organic rules - Differences between other regulations/standards and EEC No 2092/91]

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Summary

It is prohibited to slaughter animals without pre-stunning. There are a series of detailed rules to specify how animals are stunned and killed. Equipment must have an effective cleaning and maintenance schedule. Staff must be suitably trained and qualified. There must be adequate back-up equipment. Tenderising substances must not be used on live animals. Animals must be effectively restrained without causing injury or distress, and only immediately before stunning or killing. Animals, except poultry, must be effectively stunned before shackling and hoisting. The stunning process must render the animal unconscious without distress and maintain unconsciousness until the animal is dead. There are a series of detailed specifications for the various methods of stunning that are permitted for each different class of livestock, together with the minimum stun-to-bleed times in each case. (Soil Association Organic Standards. Subsection 42.8.)

Difference

Soil Association standards are more detailled than EU Regulation 2092/91. Soil Association standards prohibit the slaughter of animals without pre-stunning. There are detailed maximum times between stunning and bleeding of animals. EU Regulation states only that the slaughtering process must be conducted so that the stress to the animals is reduced to a minimum.

Justification

Soil Association standards are intended to ensure that the animal welfare problems associated with slaughtering processes are minimised. They specify a set of required conditions, along with stunning and killing methods available in UK, that should involve the least risk of distress for the animals.

EU Regulation

Annex I. Principles of organic production and processing > B.Livestock and livestock products - Annex I B > Animal husbandry, management, transport, identification of livestock products/slaughter - Annex I B6

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