Bureau reports breaches to animal welfare regulations
Bureau reports breaches to animal welfare regulations
Reports by vets and hygiene inspectors have detailed over 4,000 severe breaches of animal welfare regulations over the past two years, a study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has claimed.
According to the Bureau, data submitted to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reveals regular breakdowns on production lines, equipment failures and poor procedures in abattoirs have resulted in thousands of animals being subjected to avoidable suffering each year. Individual acts of cruelty and neglect by slaughterhouse staff, hauliers and farmers are also documented.
Vets and meat hygiene inspectors working for the FSA inside abattoirs reported a total of 9,511 animal welfare breaches between July 2014 and June 2016, the Bureau says. Of those, almost half were considered Category 4 breaches – the most serious breach meaning animals were subjected to “avoidable pain, distress or suffering”.
Neil Parish, chairman of the Commons Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told the Bureau: “There is no place for animal cruelty at any stage of farm production – including the slaughterhouse.
“This country prides itself as having some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world. It’s vital the authorities crack down on any abuses and ensure there is zero tolerance to any mistreatment of animals when slaughtered.”
According to the Bureau, the FSA reported that between June 2014 and July 2016 all level 4 breaches resulted in enforcement action. The FSA did not state to the Bureau what type of action was taken, though in an earlier response to the Bureau it did provide details of cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2013 and 2014.
Pressure groups and unions are calling for mandatory CCTV in abattoirs to help combat welfare breaches.
“Meaningful protection for animals could only come from mandatory, independently monitored CCTV,” Isobel Hutchinson, head of campaigns at Animal Aid, commented.
A recent report CCTV Monitoring in Slaughterhouses, by Ian D. Rotherham, Joe Worden and Paul Cormack of Cormack Economics, HEC Associates and Sheffield Hallam University also proposed the mandatory monitoring and inspection of processes in slaughterhouses using CCTV as “it is clear voluntary compliance does not achieve effective cessation of all malpractice.”
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