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Friday 12 August 2016

Improved animal welfare, the right technology and increased business

Volume 120, October 2016, Pages 71–77
Meat for Global Sustainability: 62nd International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (62nd ICoMST), August 14-19, 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

  • Danish Meat Research Institute/Danish Technological Institute, Gregersensvej 9, DK 2630 Taastrup, Denmark


Highlights

Influence of pre-slaughter handling on animal welfare, quality and carcass value
Importance of well working systems to improve animal welfare
Systems to survey pre-slaughter handling and animal welfare

Abstract

Animal welfare is receiving increasing attention from the authorities, the public and NGOs. For this reason, the improvement of animal welfare and animal handling systems is of the utmost importance for the meat industry. Technological developments have led to more animal friendly systems that handle animals on the day of slaughter, and these developments will be even more important as consideration for animal welfare and sustainability is no longer just a trend but a licence to operate. Improvement of animal welfare also leads to a higher value of the carcasses due to higher product quality, less cut-off caused by fewer injuries, and reduced working load, which leads to increased business opportunities. Therefore, good animal welfare is good business, and the development and implementation of new technology is the way to obtain improved animal welfare. These subjects will be addressed using examples and cases from the pork and broiler production industry.

Keywords

  • Pre-slaughter handling;
  • Product quality;
  • Carcass value;
  • Efficiency
Corresponding author.