Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the various stunning methods for poultry

Article 27(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing provides that "No later than 8 December 2013, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report on the various stunning methods for poultry, and in particular multiple bird waterbath stunners, taking into account the animal welfare aspects, as well as the socioeconomic and environmental impacts". To prepare this report the Commission commissioned a "study on various methods of stunning for poultry", with the final report submitted to the Commission in 2012.

Among the various stunning methods for poultry, waterbath stunning is the most widely used in the world and in the EU. It is historically the first one, it is cheap, technologically accessible, does not require much space and it immobilises enough birds to be bled through an automatic neck cutter in industrial slaughterhouses.

The main alternative stunning method is Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS), whereby the poultry is stunned in an atmosphere chamber where they are exposed to gas mixtures. Other alternatives to waterbath are not yet sufficiently developed to represent an immediate option. CAS presents advantages for animal welfare as well as for meat quality and working conditions. However, CAS is expensive, needs more space to be installed and it is designed at present for high throughput slaughterhouses.

The phasing out of waterbath stunning is presently not an economically viable option because in the current context, there is no practical alternative for middle or low throughput slaughterhouses which constitutes a substantial number of establishments in the EU.

The Commission continues to follow-up carefully implementation in Member States, as well as assessing, benchmarking and disseminating best practices and innovation in applying the existing EU rules.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)915: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:915:FIN

ESO: Background information: Animal welfare at slaughterhouses http://www.europeansources.info/record/animal-welfare-at-slaughterhouses/

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