Maple Lodge Farm report

SECTION IX
SLAUGHTER SYSTEMS AT MAPLE LODGE FARMS
Though slaughter systems at Maple Lodge Farms were not widely discussed during the court case, they
are, nonetheless, a key chicken welfare issue because they affect hundreds of millions of birds annually
in Canada.
Regulations under the Meat Inspection Act require animals to be stunned (made unconscious) prior to
slaughter, with exceptions for halal and kosher slaughter.
The electrified water-stun bath has been used for decades by the poultry industry, including Maple
Lodge Farms during 2008 - 09, the time frame for Counts 7 and 34. The purpose of the water bath is to
stun the birds prior to bleed out (death).
The electrified water bath process: After quick removal from transport crates by plant personnel called
“hangers,” the birds are hung, upside down by their feet, onto metal shackles attached to a conveyor
belt. Birds are then conveyed to the electrified water bath for head immersion in the electrified water,
(with the intent) to render the birds unconscious before they move to the spinning blades of the neck
cutter for bleed out (death by exsanguination). Dead birds then move to the boiling “scald” tank for
feather removal.
Though the electrified water bath is the most commonly used poultry stun system in Canada, serious
humane issues are associated with its use, including:
• Handling stress associated with un-crating and shackling live birds
• Shackling conscious birds, upside down by their feet, which is frightening and causes
painful injuries
• Pre-stun shocks when birds are splashed by the electrified water
• Lack of sufficient current to actually stun the birds to unconsciousness, as federal
regulations require
• While shackled, birds may raise their heads, and miss the stun bath and neck cutter
entirely, and enter the scald tank (for feather removal) still alive and conscious, causing
“red skin” carcasses because the birds were scalded and drowned.
Economics over animal welfare [ 33 ]