Certified Humane’s Adele Douglass wants consumers to tell USDA not to speed up processing lines
by Sustainable Food News May 22, 2012
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing regulations at poultry plants, which would make the slaughtering process more inhumane, according to Adele Douglass, executive director, Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), which administers the Certified Humane® labeling program.
Poultry (chickens and turkeys) has always been exempt from the humane slaughter act, which covers humane slaughter of livestock in slaughter plants.
The act requires USDA inspectors to inspect chickens prior to slaughter to make sure they are not diseased. In order for these inspectors to do their jobs, the line speeds have to be slow enough for them to inspect the birds.
Douglass said pain and suffering for poultry starts with hanging and shackling the birds on the line. Industrial poultry slaughter plants do not meet the HFAC standards because of their line speeds.
The HFAC standards require chickens be hung in shackles by both legs, with each leg placed on a separate shackle, and an appropriate line speed is required in order to do this carefully.
The proposed regulation, the Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection Act, would cut the numbers of inspectors at poultry slaughter plants to save money.
The agency is proposing that the slaughter plants have their own personnel do the pre-slaughter inspections without requiring the plant employees to be trained, reduce the USDA inspector to one inspector per line, and permit faster line speeds than are permitted under the current inspection system.
Douglass said faster line speeds cause more bruising and fractures, such as broken wings.
Douglass is calling on consumers to comment on the new regulations and urge USDA not to increase line speeds in the slaughter of chickens and turkeys.
She also urged to consumers to tell USDA to increase – not decrease – the number of food safety inspectors at poultry slaughter plants, and not allow untrained poultry slaughter plant workers to do the sorting of poultry that is safe or unsafe for human consumption.
To comment on the proposed regulations, click here. Comments are due no later than May 29
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sustainablefoodnews.com
Posted: May 22, 2012 by Certified Humane
Certified Humane’s Adele Douglass wants consumers to tell USDA not to speed up processing lines
by Sustainable Food News
May 22, 2012
Poultry (chickens and turkeys) has always been exempt from the humane slaughter act, which covers humane slaughter of livestock in slaughter plants.
The act requires USDA inspectors to inspect chickens prior to slaughter to make sure they are not diseased. In order for these inspectors to do their jobs, the line speeds have to be slow enough for them to inspect the birds.
Douglass said pain and suffering for poultry starts with hanging and shackling the birds on the line. Industrial poultry slaughter plants do not meet the HFAC standards because of their line speeds.
The HFAC standards require chickens be hung in shackles by both legs, with each leg placed on a separate shackle, and an appropriate line speed is required in order to do this carefully.
The proposed regulation, the Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection Act, would cut the numbers of inspectors at poultry slaughter plants to save money.
The agency is proposing that the slaughter plants have their own personnel do the pre-slaughter inspections without requiring the plant employees to be trained, reduce the USDA inspector to one inspector per line, and permit faster line speeds than are permitted under the current inspection system.
Douglass said faster line speeds cause more bruising and fractures, such as broken wings.
Douglass is calling on consumers to comment on the new regulations and urge USDA not to increase line speeds in the slaughter of chickens and turkeys.
She also urged to consumers to tell USDA to increase – not decrease – the number of food safety inspectors at poultry slaughter plants, and not allow untrained poultry slaughter plant workers to do the sorting of poultry that is safe or unsafe for human consumption.
To comment on the proposed regulations, click here. Comments are due no later than May 29
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Sustainablefoodnews.com
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