PITHING OF BOVINE ANIMALS IN SLAUGHTERHOUSES

You will be aware that the Commission has recently considered, and is shortly to implement, a proposal concerning transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).

We recognise that these proposals were designed, primarily, to protect public health. The proposals include an Article which recommends that the slaughter technique of pithing, which destroys the brain and prevents recovery of an animal after stunning, shall not be used on bovine, ovine or caprine animals whose meat is intended for human consumption.

Although it is accepted that all slaugterhouses should be designed in such a way as to avoid routine pithing, by ensuring enough space in the slaughterhall and the provision of the correct equipment, this is not always possible and stun-to-stick times can be delayed. Pithing an animal permits slaughterhouse staff more time, after stunning the animal, to hoist and then move it to the sticking area. With the removal of the pithing option, slaughterhouse staff must now make every effort to ensure that stun-to-stick times are kept as short as possible as any delay may have serious implications for animal welfare.

You may wish to consider reminding all slaughterhouse operators of this need and to ensure arrangements around the stunning box are as efficient as possible. Attention might also be drawn to the need to guarantee hoist speeds are satisfactory and that the use of equipment such as horizontal bleed tables would reduce stun-to-stick times. Published advice on how to achieve speedy stun-to-stick times would be welcomed.

The Council also believes that pithing should remain an option where a delay occurs, is unavoidable or in emergency situations or where bleeding is difficult to carry out. Staff should be made fully aware of the action required if pithing is to take place, including the animals removal from the food chain, and it would be worthwhile making guidance available to staff in OTMS plants, where the procedure is still permissible.

More detailed comments on pithing will be offered in a new FAWC Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter, which we hope to publish early in 2002. However, the working group has asked that its concerns be highlighted now and that appropriate action is taken to remind slaughterhouses that short stun-to-stick times are of paramount importance to animal welfare.

I am copying this letter to appropriate officials in the Food Standards Agency and Meat Hygiene Service.