Asked by: George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what procedures the Food Standards Agency has in place to monitor and ensure compliance with Schedule 1, Part 5, paragraph 28 (f) of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Official Veterinarians and Meat Hygiene Inspectors carry out general monitoring activities that include checks and verification of the welfare of animals.
Welfare verification activities carried out by the FSA team on site cover all processes involving live animals, including verification of the business operator’s own checks to ensure efficiency of stunning. These in situ verification checks take place at different intervals throughout the production day.
Post-mortem inspection of every bird destined for human consumption is carried under the supervision of the official veterinarian; post-mortem findings may indicate welfare may have been compromised during slaughter and related operations; findings are recorded and investigated when identified. Post-mortem inspection will generally not provide any evidence of consciousness following stunning if the required procedures were followed and the affected birds were stunned or killed without delay once the stunning was identified as inefficient.
Asked by: George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many recorded instances or reports from official veterinarians there have been of birds entering the next stage of production while still showing signs of consciousness in slaughterhouses in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The following table shows by reporting year the number of instances that official veterinarians have recorded enforcement action following an incident when stunning was considered to be ineffective in poultry slaughterhouses:
Reporting Year | Instances where stunning deemed ineffective |
April 2014 – March 2015 | 23 |
April 2015 – March 2016 | 8 |
April 2016 – March 2017 | 3 |
April 2017 – March 2018 | 12 |
April 2018 – March 2019 | 4 |
The business operator must implement systems to ensure stunning is efficient. There must be Standard Operating Procedures in place which specify the action to be taken when birds show signs of consciousness or sensibility after the stunning procedure. Instances of birds identified and dealt with by the Business Operator in accordance to their own procedures will not be recorded by the official veterinarian.
Asked by: George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many orders to stop or suspend the operation of a production or shackle line because birds were showing signs of consciousness before entering the next stage of production were issued by official veterinarians to slaughterhouses in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
There have been no orders or formal enforcement actions to stop or suspend the operation of a production or shackle line because birds were showing signs of consciousness before entering the next stage of production.
Due to the automated nature of poultry production, any stoppages of the line may result in an adverse effect on the welfare of the animals within the shackle line before and after the stage of stunning.
Incidents involving an individual bird would generally be resolved by dealing with the bird while still in the moving line or by removing the individual bird.
Incidents involving a more systemic failure of the stunning system which may require a suspension of the operation will generally be resolved without the service of a formal notice due to the urgent nature of the action required.
Asked by: George Eustice (Conservative - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what procedures the Food Standards Agency has in place to monitor and ensure compliance with Schedule 3, Part 3, paragraph 8 of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Official Veterinarians and Meat Hygiene Inspectors carry out general monitoring activities that include checks and verification of the welfare of animals.
Welfare verification activities carried out by the FSA team on site cover all processes involving live animals, including verification of the business operator’s own checks to ensure that birds do not show any signs of life before dressing or electrical stimulation commence. These in situ verification checks take place at different intervals throughout the production day.
Post-mortem inspection of every bird destined for human consumption is carried out under the supervision of the official veterinarian; post-mortem findings may indicate welfare may have been compromised during slaughter and related operations; findings are recorded and investigated when identified.