Blood spots in chicken meat after slaughter - a humane alternative

Authors: Gregory NG, Robins JK, Stewart TA
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 47, Issue 2, pp 77-78, Apr 1999
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Avian, Poultry, Production animal
Subject Terms: Animal handling, Meat, Quality/assurance, Slaughter
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: About 64 million broiler chickens are slaughtered for meat consumption in New Zealand every year. The most common killing method is to use a high frequency stunning current followed by a dorsal neck cut. High frequency stunning currents do not cause a cardiac arrest at stunning (Gregory and Wotton, 199 l), and so it is important that the main arteries supplying the brain with blood are cut to avoid the birds regaining consciousness following this stunning method (Gregory and Wotton, 1985). Instead, in many processing plants it is common for the spinal cord and the vertebral arteries to be cut, and at best, one of the carotid arteries. Severing the spinal cord makes it difficult to identify whether the birds remain unconscious following stunning. A frontal cut (ventral aspect) would avoid these problems by cutting the carotid arteries and allowing an assessment to be made of the effectiveness of stunning. The reason that the cut is made at the back of the neck is historical. When automatic killers were first introduced it was…

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