[ad_1]
Published:
Updated:
On three occasions, the chickens have been alive when they were blanched in hot water at a slaughterhouse in Sölvesborg.
The company behind the slaughterhouse will now review its routines, but the Animal Rights organization does not believe that is enough.
– We must reduce the consumption of chicken, it is not possible to have such a fast slaughter rate and at the same time do it correctly, says ethologist Anna Harenius.
It was the slaughterhouse itself that regularly reported the incident. Three chickens missed the actual time of slaughter at different times during the summer, meaning they were alive when they were blanched in hot water as the last step in slaughter.
The three steps that the feed supplier and the slaughterhouse in question, Atria Sverige AB in Sölvesborg, apply for the slaughter of chickens, they are first anesthetized in an electric bath, which is done by hanging the chickens on their legs and lowering them in the bathroom stunning. Then cut the throat, before blanching the now dead chickens in the hot water.
According to Malin Westling, Atria’s communications manager, the chickens had been stunned in the electric toilet, but somehow escaped the step that cuts their throats.
– What we could see then was that we had three cases in which the bird after being stunned had not been killed correctly. They had not been properly stabbed before scalding, he says and continues:
– But this is an issue that we take absolutely seriously. We have zero tolerance for deviations like this.
Photo: Petrus Iggström.
Anna Harenius, an expert ethologist at Animal Rights.
Photo: Atria Sweden
Malin Westling, Atria communications chief.
“You have to reduce consumption”
After dialoguing with veterinarians and authorities, the slaughterhouse will now review its routines. These include increased training for personnel reviewing the slaughter process and measures such as better lighting that will facilitate error detection.
Anna Harenius, an expert ethologist at Animal Rights, doesn’t think that’s enough.
– It is clear that it is good that they are trying to do better, but that it has even happened to them before they change their routines, it seems sad to us, he says.
After other large chicken suppliers reported similar cases, the organization wants electric bathing methods to be completely phased out.
– Chickens can be of such different sizes that not everyone reaches the electric toilet when they are hanging by the legs. Also, they get stressed out by the process itself.
It would be preferable to gasify chickens before slaughter, but the problem really lies in the large-scale slaughter industry, the organization thinks.
– You have to reduce the consumption of chicken, it is not possible to have such a fast slaughter rate and at the same time do it correctly, says ethologist Anna Harenius.
Published:
