Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of substituting the use of carbon dioxide in the stunning of pigs with alternatives such as argon, nitrogen or nitrous oxide.

We recognise the long-standing animal welfare concerns with high concentration carbon dioxide stunning of pigs. HM Government has supported research into use of alternatives, including inert gas mixtures, and while these do reduce the welfare impacts, there are practical constraints to their use which have so far restricted commercial uptake.

HM Government has also part-funded research into Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning (LAPS) as a possible alternative stunning method for pigs. However, the results demonstrated that LAPS is associated with poor welfare in pigs and does not present a humane alternative to high concentration carbon dioxide stunning.