Meat+Poultry - December 2021 - 17

then. " Grandin, an educator, scientist, engineer,
author of dozens of books and the subject of an
Emmy-award winning movie, has dedicated her
long career to improving the lives of animals.
ORIGINS ACROSS THE POND
The United Kingdom was ahead of the United
States with regard to legislation related to
humane treatment of livestock in the early
1930s as evidenced by the passage of the
Slaughter of Animals Act of 1933, which
required mechanical stunning of cows and
electrical stunning of pigs.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the growth
of the meat industry in the early to middle 20th
century was facilitated by the establishment
of stockyards in Chicago, Kansas City and
New York and the use of feedlots across the
country. The expansion of a transportation
infrastructure brought exponential growth
in livestock production as transportation
advances made moving live animals from farms
to feedlots to processing plants much more
prevalent. The development of refrigerated
transportation via railways and on trucks also
served to distribute more meat to more states.
As demand, production and consumption grew,
so too did the awareness of how animals in the
food supply chain were treated.
About 25 years after England's formation
of the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) in
1911, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed
the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act
into law. Prior to the 1958 Humane Slaughter
Act, there were no laws regulating humane
slaughter practices. The initial law focused
on ensuring that proper methods were used
to render cattle insensible before shackling,
hoisting, casting or cutting. The law applied
only to companies selling meat to the US
government and specifically addressed the
stunning of cattle, pigs, sheep and other
mammals, and did not address the stunning
of birds. It also did not apply to religious
slaughter, such as halal or Kosher.
The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of
1978 was passed as a follow-up to the earlier
law, addressing cattle handling practices
during the slaughtering process. According to
the USDA, the intention of the 1978 act was
to prevent needless animal suffering, improve
meat quality, decrease financial losses, and
ensure safe working conditions. Compliance
with the Act was ensured by USDA Food
Safety and Inspection Service veterinarians
overseeing slaughter at beef packing plants in
addition to FSIS inspectors on the kill floor.
The veterinarian enforced humane slaughter
methods throughout the plant by observing
methods of slaughter, ensuring corrective
action was taken, and reporting inhumane
treatment of cattle.
POULTRY'S TIME
The Federal Poultry Inspection Service was
established in 1926, which initially provided
inspection of live birds at New York area train
stations and poultry vending locations.
Vertical integration in the poultry industry,
especially during the 1960s, served as an
opportunity for producers to utilize new
biological and pharmaceutical technologies
that would advance broiler welfare for years
to come. By the mid '70s, the poultry industry
had evolved as researchers discovered the
important role of nutrition, implemented
disease eradication programs and took
advantage of genetic-based improvements in
the breeding process.
More recently, the National Chicken
Council (NCC) developed the NCC Animal
Welfare Guidelines and Audit Checklist in
1999, which has been adopted by chicken
producers and processors to ensure the
humane treatment of chickens. The guidelines
are species specific, focusing on broilers and
broiler breeders and address every phase
of a chicken's life to make science-based
recommendations for the proper treatment of
broiler chickens.
" The USDA has requirements regarding
humane slaughter under the federal Poultry
Products Inspection Act, and the slaughter
process is monitored on a continuous basis
by FSIS inspectors, " said Ashley Peterson,
PhD, senior vice president of scientific and
regulatory affairs with the NCC. " Companies
may receive a non-compliance report relating
to animal welfare and must take corrective
action when they are not in compliance with
FSIS directives. "
Peterson said the evolution in technology
in chicken production has advanced broiler
welfare, including housing ventilation
systems, automated and sensor-based control
of feed, water and temperature controls in
One of the first
things that
happened a long
time ago was
recognizing
that animals
can feel pain. "
- TEMPLE GRANDIN
The revolving hog wheel at
the Armour pork plant in
the Chicago stockyards is
symbolic of the perception
of animal welfare in
the early 20th century
and is a sharp contrast
to practices in 2021.
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