Slaughterhouses: Animal Welfare

(asked on 24th November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many abattoirs have adequate lairage for cattle kept overnight.


This question was answered on 1st December 2016

It is a condition of approval that all slaughterhouses are required to have adequate lairage facilities and there is no distinction between requirements for day or night time lairage.

There are currently 180 approved cattle slaughterhouses in England and Wales (some of these premises also slaughter other species).

Regulation 853/2004, Annex III, Section I, Chapter II, sets out the requirements for slaughterhouse lairage and states:

- Adequate and hygienic lairage facilities must be equipped for watering the animals and, if necessary, feeding them.

Animal welfare standards are set out in Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. Annex III states:

- Animals which have not been slaughtered within 12 hours of their arrival must be fed, and subsequently given moderate amounts of food at appropriate intervals (usually every 12 hours). In such cases, the animals shall be provided an appropriate amount of bedding or equivalent material which guarantees a level of comfort appropriate to the species and the number of animals concerned. This material shall guarantee an efficient drainage or ensure adequate absorption of urine and faeces.

- Arrangements must be made for milking dairy animals at intervals of not more than 12 hours.

- Animals which are not taken directly to the place of slaughter after being unloaded must have drinking water available to them from appropriate facilities at all times.

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