Poultry Welfare

Poultry Slaughter Welfare: Improving Practice

Slaughter is the final welfare challenge for billions of chickens and turkeys annually, with significant variation in method and animal experience.

Key Facts

Water bath electrical stunning is the most common method for chicken slaughter
Conscious birds may miss the stun bath and enter scalding tanks alive
Controlled atmosphere stunning with inert gases is considered more humane
Roughly 1 billion chickens may be inadequately stunned in the EU annually
Slaughter plant worker welfare is closely linked to animal welfare outcomes

Welfare Considerations

Poultry slaughter welfare improvements face technical and economic barriers but the potential scale of suffering reduction is enormous. Transitioning from water bath to gas stunning eliminates the risk of conscious birds entering scalding tanks. Slaughterhouse worker welfare and animal welfare are linked — high-pressure environments with poor training produce worse outcomes for both. Mandatory CCTV has improved compliance.

What You Can Do

Support campaigns for controlled atmosphere gas stunning to become the industry standard
Advocate for mandatory CCTV in all poultry slaughter facilities
Choose poultry from producers using higher-welfare slaughter methods
Reduce poultry consumption given the scale of slaughter welfare concerns