The method used to render poultry unconscious before slaughter has major welfare implications. Water bath stunning used in most facilities has serious welfare problems that controlled atmosphere systems can address.
The suffering involved in conventional poultry slaughter is substantial, systemic, and largely invisible to consumers. Shackling conscious birds upside-down, the disorientation of electrical stunning, and the documented failure rate of water bath systems combine to produce enormous quantities of preventable suffering. Controlled atmosphere systems are not perfect but eliminate several of the worst elements of the conventional process. Industry transition is happening but slowly, driven primarily by corporate commitments responding to consumer pressure. Strengthening and accelerating this transition is one of the highest-impact welfare reforms available to the food system.