Effective stunning before slaughter eliminates consciousness and prevents suffering during killing. Understanding pre-stun welfare in poultry slaughter reveals the gap between best practice and common practice.
Pre-stun welfare in poultry slaughter is a critical but technically complex area. Water bath electrical stunning, the most common method, frequently produces ineffective stunning due to incorrect current parameters, resulting in birds entering the killing cycle still conscious. Shackling conscious birds causes pain and distress before stunning even begins. Controlled atmosphere systems that render birds unconscious before shackling are welfare-superior but require greater capital investment. Consumer demand for higher welfare poultry products — backed by retailer commitments to CAS stunning — is one of the most effective drivers of welfare improvement at this critical stage.