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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what (1) currents, (2) frequencies, (3) waveforms, and (4) current type, AC or DC, are used in the electrical waterbath stunning of chickens; and whether they are satisfied that the parameters used cause loss of consciousness without pain and that this loss of consciousness is maintained until death.

The parameters, such as the currents and frequencies to be used for the electrical waterbath stunning of chickens, are set down in Annex I of European Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. These parameters are based on a Scientific Opinion from the Animal Health and Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

It is a requirement of domestic and European law that stunning must be effective in rendering the animal unconscious and insensible to pain and that the animal must remain unconscious until death.