Volume 109, November 2015, Pages 13–17
61st International Congress of Meat science and Technology (61st ICoMST), 23-28 August 2015, Clermont Ferrand, France
Animal welfare towards sustainability in pork meat production
Highlights
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- Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production.
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- On farm, neonatal mortality and low level of sensory input are the main welfare issues.
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- At slaughter, pre-slaughter handling and monitoring of stunning effectiveness are the main welfare issues.
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- Strategies to improve welfare will benefit product meat and carcass quality.
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- 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
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