Dr Golledge, Chief Executive of the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) and UFAW, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, and Editor of Animal Welfare: the International Journal of Animal Welfare Science, wasguest speaker at GCAW’s Pig Welfare Working Group meeting in December.
Dr Golledge briefed members on the animal welfare concerns surrounding the use of carbon dioxide stunning, a method that has been widely adopted by the global food processing industry over the last 30 years. Whilst there are welfare benefits with this method, for the handling of animals in the lead up to stunning, concerns over the impact on welfare from the CO2 gas are leading to increasing pressure for change in several geographies. He presented research into alternative approaches and the challenges and opportunities arising from these.
Concluding, Dr Golledge advised that HSA is advocating the use of inert gas stunning as the optimal alternative to CO2 stunning for animal welfare. The organisation believes that the barriers to its widespread adoption are largely engineering matters, and that it rests with the food industry to uncover practical ways to implement this solution or demonstrate conclusively why it cannot happen. As such, he was pleased to be able to address members of GCAW on this topic.
Dr Nathan Rhys Williams, GCAW Secretariat, thanked Dr Gollege for his insight and his appreciation of stakeholder considerations in each scenario, which were incredibly valuable to members in the meeting.
