Obama Administration Urged To Improve Humane Treatment Of Poultry At Slaughterhouses

By Karla Paris

Producers, processors, and retailers share in the public’s concern and need for humane treatment of poultry

The Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary has petitioned the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to strengthen humane treatment regulations, by, among other things, banning live birds from the scalding tanks.  When the slaughtering process is working correctly, birds have already been killed by the automatic knife used to slit their necks.  However, it is known that a small percentage of birds actually miss the knife and expire while in the scalding tank.

In early March, 68 House members urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to scrap a proposed poultry inspection rule that would speed up cleaning and inspecting bird carcasses, known as evisceration. The lawmakers said in their letter to Vilsack that it would result in more birds missing backup slaughter devices and entering the scalding tank alive.

Earlier this year, the National Chicken Council (NCC) updated its Animal Welfare Guidelines, which incorporates new parameters to improve bird welfare.  The new guidelines include a whistleblower protection, more assistance for training programs for proper handling, more documentation and monitoring of various practices, and a more streamlined auditing tool for ease of auditing.

Processors are paying attention to the latest outcry from consumers and have turned a closer eye to its humane treatment of poultry through a certification program entitled Certified Humane Raised and Handled. Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), which established the certification program, is an international non-profit certification organization dedicated to improving the lives of farm animals in food production from birth through slaughter.

Here is a list of some poultry processors certified as Humane Raised and Handled: American Halal, Ayrshire Farm, Blue Goose Pure Foods, Footsteps Farm, Home Farm Butcher Shop, Home Market Foods, Hunter’s Head Tavern, Knee Deep Cattle, Koch’s Turkey Farm, Murray’s Chicken, Native Gardens Food, Sunrise Poultry Processors, Tecumseh-Farms Organic Smart Chicken, and Trillium Farms.

When animals raised for food die by any means other than by humane slaughter suffering occurs, regardless of the number of birds subjected to this treatment.  Food processors strive to keep that number as close to zero as possible, and the proposal to modernize poultry slaughter inspection may help do just that.