Ethical audit ensures animal welfare for pigs
In recent years consumers, markets and the
authorities have increasingly emphasised ethically acceptable treatment of
slaughter animals during transport and at the slaughterhouse.
In the mid 1990s the Danish Meat Research
Institute examined all slaughterhouses under the Danish Bacon and Meat Board and
made a so-called Ethical Audit of the animal welfare at each slaughterhouse.
Representatives from the Animal Protection Society have assisted by determining
the ethical level.
The audit is a documentation and self
regulation programme, which after a thorough examination of a long series of
points produce a total measure for the level of animal welfare at the
slaughterhouse.
The general requirements for good treatment are
free forward movement, minimum constraint, fulfilment of the physical
requirements of the animals, no aggression and damage plus prompt treatment in
case of damage.
By graduating each point a weighting is
achieved in relation to the real importance for the animals and to how demanding
in resources it would be to correct the situation. A single example is control
of the quality of stunning by measuring the cornea reflex of the stunned pigs.
The graduating manual was updated in 2003, and a similar manual has also been made for slaughter of organically produced pigs.
