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Friday 25 September 2015

Animal welfare towards sustainability in pork meat production

Volume 109, November 2015, Pages 13–17
61st International Congress of Meat science and Technology (61st ICoMST), 23-28 August 2015, Clermont Ferrand, France

Highlights

Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production.
On farm, neonatal mortality and low level of sensory input are the main welfare issues.
At slaughter, pre-slaughter handling and monitoring of stunning effectiveness are the main welfare issues.
Strategies to improve welfare will benefit product meat and carcass quality.
The training of stockpeople is one of the most cost-effective policies to improve animal welfare.

Abstract

Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production and is associated with other aspects of this concept, such as animal health, productivity, food safety, food quality and efficiency from a cost of production perspective. These interactions are present at all stages of the production cycle, from the beginning of the animals' farm life until their slaughter. On farm, some of the main welfare issues are related to neonatal mortality and low level of sensory input, which are likely to engender stereotypes and injurious behaviours, such as tail-biting. Pre-slaughter handling refers to the interaction between humans and animals prior to and during transport and at slaughter. Strategies to reduce pre-slaughter stress will benefit carcass and meat quality, being the training of stockpeople one of the most cost-effective policies to improve animal welfare. These strategies include also the implementation of standard monitoring procedures to detect signs of consciousness after stunning, before sticking and during bleeding until death occurs.

Keywords

  • Animal welfare;
  • Farm;
  • Meat production;
  • Pigs;
  • Slaughter;
  • Sustainability;
  • Transport

Corresponding author.