Poultry Welfare at Slaughter: Improving Humane Killing Standards

Slaughter is the highest-risk welfare event in poultry production. Improving stunning and killing methods can dramatically reduce the suffering of billions of birds annually.

Key Facts

Approximately 70 billion chickens are slaughtered globally each year — making poultry slaughter the largest single killing event in the food system by animal numbers
Conventional commercial poultry slaughter involves live shackling (hanging birds upside down on a moving line), electrical water-bath stunning, and throat cutting — a process with multiple welfare failure points
Live shackling causes significant welfare harm: the process is painful, birds are in an upside-down position causing disorientation and respiratory distress, and the duration from shackling to stunning can be several minutes
Water-bath electrical stunning is often set at parameters insufficient for rapid induction of unconsciousness — birds may be inadequately stunned and retain consciousness through the killing cut
Controlled atmosphere killing (CAK) using high-concentration CO2 or inert gases (argon, nitrogen) kills birds in their crates before shackling, eliminating live shackling welfare harm and improving stunning efficacy
The Humane Slaughter Association and welfare organizations advocate for CAK as a higher-welfare alternative to electrical water-bath stunning, particularly for broiler chickens
Some progressive operations have adopted low-atmospheric-pressure stunning (LAPS) — a newer approach that induces unconsciousness rapidly without CO2 exposure — with positive welfare outcomes in early studies

Welfare Considerations

Poultry slaughter welfare is a scale problem: the suffering reduction achievable by improving slaughter methods for billions of birds annually is among the highest-impact single interventions in food animal welfare. The shift from conventional electrical water-bath stunning to controlled atmosphere killing eliminates the most acute welfare harms — live shackling and inadequate electrical stunning — at a scale affecting tens of billions of birds in countries that adopt the change. European welfare organizations have campaigned successfully for CAK adoption in some operations, and consumer-facing campaigns have driven corporate commitments to CAK in supply chains. The economic case for CAK is also positive in some systems: reduced bruising, improved product quality, and more consistent stunning outcomes provide commercial incentives alongside welfare improvements.

What You Can Do

Support campaigns by Humane Society of the United States, CIWF, and HSA advocating for controlled atmosphere killing adoption in commercial poultry slaughter
Contact food companies and retailers purchasing poultry to request commitment to CAK-only supply chains in their procurement standards
Reduce poultry consumption and concentrate purchases on welfare-certified products from operations using higher-welfare slaughter methods
Advocate for regulatory requirements mandating CAK or equivalent higher-welfare alternatives to conventional water-bath electrical stunning
Support research and development of new humane slaughter technologies including LAPS and other innovations that improve on existing CAK approaches