Challenges associated with animal welfare programs at abattoirs

Author: Sarah Babington

Having an animal welfare program at an abattoir is crucial to ensure good welfare outcomes for animals at slaughter. An animal welfare program provides a mechanism to assess, monitor, and improve animal welfare practices at an abattoir through regulatory compliance, facility design, staff training, and monitoring activities. While an animal welfare program is designed to uphold and improve animal welfare standards, there are challenges and limitations associated with their implementation at an abattoir.

The challenge and imitations associated with an animal welfare program at an abattoir can include:

Competing priorities (animal welfare vs. commercial realities)
Resources availability (equipment, staff, and time constrains)
Scope of monitoring activities

Competing priorities

One of the main challenges associated with an animal welfare program is the competing objectives that can occur between improving animal welfare and the commercial realities of operating an abattoir. These competing priorities within abattoirs can lead to welfare compromises, particularly when decision-making prioritises economic performance over animal welfare. For example, inadequate investment into facility or equipment maintenance, as well as staff training increases the likelihood that animals at an abattoir will experience pain, distress, or suffering prior to slaughter.

As a commercial business, an abattoir must operate in a way that is sustainable and profitable. Having an animal welfare program requires investment in training, facility design, equipment upgrades, and additional staff time. The best practice animal welfare outcomes do not always equate to the most cost effective or productive outcome for an abattoir as a business. These conflicting priorities can make it difficult for an animal welfare program to push for improvements in animal welfare when they are limited by the commercial reality. Where improvements in animal welfare are perceived as costly or time-consuming, they may be deprioritised, especially in smaller abattoirs with limited resources, companies with tight margins, or those with very high production demands.

The food safety and animal welfare requirements in Australian abattoirs are regulated by various mandatory requirements at a commonwealth and state/territory level, as well as voluntary assurance schemes and customer standards. The regulation of animal welfare at abattoirs in Australia is primarily the responsibility of the relevant state/territory jurisdiction, which means the minimum welfare requirements vary between the states and territories. Customer standards can also vary significantly and, in many cases, set higher animal welfare standards than those set by regulation. Due to the competing priorities of an abattoir an animal welfare program may only focus on meeting the minimum regulatory requirements and customer standards rather than striving for continuous improvement. In these cases, the incentive for an abattoir to improve their animal welfare standards is driven by external requirements rather than driven internally by the abattoir.

Resource availabilities

The effectiveness of an animal welfare program depends on an abattoir having adequate infrastructure, skilled staff, and time to conduct monitoring activities and corrective actions. An abattoir is often constrained by their budget, which can restrict investments in upgrading equipment, improving lairage design, or technological advances that could help to improve animal welfare. Staffing is also a common challenge for abattoirs from both a hiring and retention standpoint. A key component of an animal welfare program is the monitoring activities. However, this requires considerable time from staff that are knowledgeable and competent at undertaking the required monitoring activities. Additionally, having an inadequate number of trained staff and poorly trained staff can compromise animal welfare outcomes at an abattoir due to issues, such as mishandling or improper stunning.

An abattoir with a high throughput must compete with time pressures. The time pressures placed on staff may lead to poor handling practices being used as the focus is efficiency and speed of processing rather than best practice handling techniques of animals. Time and staffing pressures on those undertaking the monitoring for an animal welfare program can also result in monitoring activities being rushed or welfare issues being overlooked, as well as corrective actions being delayed. These resource limitations not only hinder the effectiveness of an animal welfare program but also create a reactive approach where issues are addressed as they are identified, rather than through proactive and continuous improvement efforts.

Scope of monitoring activities

The measures that are monitored under an animal welfare program will largely determine how effective the system is at identifying and addressing animal welfare issues and risks. However, monitoring activities may only focus on easily measurable outcomes because the primary aim is to meet the mandatory monitoring requirements as per regulations or customer standards. This may lead to measures that are more difficult to assess being disregarded or monitoring activities not being optimised for the abattoir and their specific animal welfare challenges.

Balancing animal welfare and commercial realities

Despite the challenges associated with the implementation of an animal welfare program at an abattoir, there are ways to navigate them such as:

Prioritising animal welfare so that it is integrated into the business strategy for the abattoir, whereby it is a point of differentiation so that improvement in welfare outcomes can align with commercial interests.
Regular and comprehensive training for staff can foster a pro-welfare culture and reduce the risk of poor animal welfare practices or non-compliance.
Advances in technology like video surveillance systems and artificial intelligence systems can help improve the efficiency of monitoring activities because they are able to collect and analyse large amounts of data to identify certain issues or patterns. Video surveillance systems also provide constant oversight which can help deter personnel from poor and unacceptable practices.

Summary

In summary, the competing priorities that can occur between animal welfare and commercial realities in an abattoir can create challenges for the implementation of animal welfare programs. The commercial realities of operating an abattoir can result in animal welfare being deprioritised and limit the ability for an abattoir to push for improved welfare standards. Improving animal welfare at an abattoir requires commitment, investment, and a cultural shift that prioritises animal welfare. Importantly, support from government, retailers, and the public to recognise the higher costs can help make prioritising and improving animal welfare commercial feasible for abattoirs.

Impetus Animal Welfare

At Impetus Animal Welfare we work with abattoirs in Australia to assist them in developing effective animal welfare programs so that processors have more information so that they can make better decisions to help improve animal welfare and their business.