Over 70 billion broiler chickens are slaughtered annually worldwide, and the slaughter process raises significant welfare concerns around stunning effectiveness and handling practices.
The final hours of a broiler chicken life involve some of the most acute suffering in the entire production cycle. Live-shackle systems cause wing and leg injuries during hanging, and chickens hung upside down experience severe stress responses. Stunning failures mean some birds are conscious during slaughter. The sheer scale — over 9 billion birds in the US alone — makes even small improvements in slaughter practices enormously consequential for total animal suffering. Controlled atmosphere systems and slaughter speed limits represent viable, evidence-based improvements.