Poultry slaughter involves billions of chickens, turkeys, and ducks annually. The welfare implications of current slaughter methods and available improvements deserve serious attention.
The scale of poultry slaughter means that small improvements in method have enormous aggregate welfare impact. Current water bath stunning systems are imperfect - a proportion of birds are not rendered fully insensible, experience pain from incorrect electrical parameters, and suffer from the stress of live shackling. Controlled atmosphere systems using inert gas are more consistently effective and eliminate live shackling stress, but have higher capital costs. The welfare case for transitioning to better slaughter methods is strong, but economic barriers require consumer pressure and regulatory support to overcome. This is an area where welfare improvements are technically available but have not been universally adopted.