Poultry slaughter methods significantly affect the welfare of billions of birds. Advances in controlled atmosphere killing and electrical stunning are improving end-of-life welfare.
Poultry slaughter welfare represents one of the largest single-species welfare interventions available given the scale of global poultry production. The difference between current industry standard methods and best available technology in terms of welfare is significant: live shackle hanging causing pain and injury before stunning, followed by imperfect electrical water bath stunning, versus upright handling systems with controlled atmosphere killing that achieves reliable unconsciousness without prior aversion and pain. Regulatory mandates for best available technology would improve the end-of-life welfare of tens of billions of birds annually, making this one of the highest-impact policy levers available in animal welfare.