Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines and Audit Guide

Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines and Audit Guide 2007 EditionPreventing Bloodsplash (Bloodspots)Gentle handling prevents damage to small blood vessels caused by excited animals jammingagainst each other or equipment. Electric prod usage should be kept at a minimum. Animals should never be left in the restrainer system during breaks and lunch. Be sure that one side of a V restrainer does not run faster than the other. This causesstretching of the skin that damages blood vessels. Minimize time to bleeding after stunning to minimize meat damage. The slats on the V restrainer and hold-down rack and chutes should be insulated toprevent current leakage, which can cause bloodsplash. Rapid temperature fluctuations and periods of extremely hot weather can greatly increasethe incidence of bloodsplash. In these circumstances, plants should take extracare in handling animals to minimize bloodsplash problems.Section 7: Religious Slaughter (Kosher and Halal)Cattle, calves, sheep or other animals that are ritually slaughtered without prior stunning shouldbe restrained in a comfortable upright position. For both humane and safety reasons, plantsshould install modern upright restraining equipment whenever possible. Shackling and hoisting,shackling and dragging, trip floor boxes and leg clamping boxes should never be used. In a verylimited number of glatt Kosher plants in the United States and more commonly in South Americaand Europe, restrainers that position animals on their backs are used. For information about thesesystems and evaluating animal welfare, refer to www.grandin.com (Ritual Slaughter Section).The throat cut should be made immediately after the head is restrained (within 10 seconds).Small animals such as sheep and goats can be held manually by a person during ritual slaughter.Plants that conduct ritual slaughter should use the same scoring procedures except for stunningscoring, which should be omitted in plants that conduct ritual slaughter without stunning.Cattle vocalization percentages should be five percent or less of the cattle in the crowd pen, leadup chute and restraint device. A slightly higher vocalization percentage is acceptable becausethe animal must be held longer in the restraint device compared to conventional slaughter. A fivepercent or less vocalization score can be reasonably achieved. Scoring criteria for electric produse and slipping on the floor should be the same as for conventional slaughter.Animals must be completely insensible before any other slaughter procedure is performed(shackling, hoisting, cutting, etc.) If the animal does not become insensible, it should be stunnedwith a captive bolt gun or other apparatus and designated as non-Kosher or non-Halal).35AMIHandlingSlaughterGuidelines07.1AMIJune 11, 2007