Meat+Poultry - December 2021 - 22

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years
improved the meat quality, " she said. " Electric
prods no longer need to be used and relying on
the pig's natural desire to stay with pen mates
helps to assure that they remain calm prior
to stunning. "
However, many smaller-volume meat
lockers still use electrical wands on pigs to
stun them. Improvements in this equipment
have also been positive.
" The change in 2010 to head-heart stunning
versus head-only stunning greatly improved the
likelihood of the pigs remaining insensible until
they could be bled, " Voogd said.
The industry standard
changed from head-only
stunning for pigs to headheart
stunning in 2010.
Chuck Bildstein agreed. The humane
stunning and equipment specialist with
Riverside, Mo.-based Bunzl Processor Division
is an authority on the most effective tools to
render livestock insensible. He said captivebolt
stunners today are not a one-size-fitsall
proposition.
" There are now stunners designed for
specific-sized animals, " he said. " Bulls, bison,
sows and boars require a more powerful tool
for better stunning results. "
Tools to ensure stunners are performing
properly are another advancement.
" Stun testers provide plants the opportunity
to confirm the stunner equipment is working
properly before use. Electronic recordkeeping
data collection to track long-term storage and
trend information for each stunner is another
valuable tool, " Bildstein said.
" The plants are also more aware of the
importance of the stunners and how important
maintenance and cleaning of the stunner is.
The plants have specific SOP documentation
on the stunner equipment that provides detail
to the maintenance personnel as to the proper
steps for maintenance, " he said.
Voogd pointed out that there has been a
flurry of large capacity pork plants adopting CO2
stunning. This method allows for group handling
and stunning of pigs versus electrically stunning
one pig at a time in a single-file chute.
" This technology has dramatically reduced
the stress on the individual pig and greatly
22 MEAT+POULTRY | 12.21 | www.meatpoultry.com
KEEPING SOLUTIONS SIMPLE
For decades, Grandin has preached that
most animal welfare problems can be fixed
easily and don't require tens of thousands
of dollars in plant renovations, redesigns
and makeovers. This was the case at the
plants supplying McDonald's and in most of
today's plants. For example, common issues
like slipping and falling animals were fixed
by installing non-slip flooring at plants and
in loading and unloading areas. Most other
issues were resolved by maintaining and
repairing facilities as well as training and
supervising workers.
At that time, there were 75 plants
supplying McDonald's, recalled Grandin, and
only three of them required investments in
expensive equipment.
" When it comes to handling and stunning,
it's much better now. " Grandin said.
During the process, it was discovered that
one unfortunate reality is that some plants
employed livestock handlers who enjoyed
hurting and torturing animals.
" It's not nice to say, but it was something
we learned, " Grandin said.
One of the causes of animal welfare
problems in the past decade was a flurry
of mobility issues in cattle. Causes ranged
from the use of feed additives (beta agonists)
during warm weather to genetic complications
causing leg conformation problems in cattle
and hogs.
" A calm person makes a good animal
handler, " Grandin said. " Good handling takes
a lot of walking due to the need to bringing up
small groups of animals at a time.
" Handling is not a flunky job; it's a really
important job. "
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Meat+Poultry - December 2021

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