The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Veterinary Public Health Association (VPHA) have re-iterated their call for mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses and legislation to ensure vets have unrestricted access to slaughterhouse CCTV footage.
The call follows the recent undercover filming by an animal welfare organisation in the Simply Halal slaughterhouse. The filming revealed serious abuses of animals at slaughter, despite the fact CCTV was installed in the slaughterhouse. The footage is reported to not have been stored.
According to Food Standards Agency figures 90% of slaughterhouses in the UK have CCTV, aimed at monitoring and improving animal welfare at slaughter. However, their figures also imply that over 30 slaughterhouses have refused to share footage with official veterinarians (OVs) working in slaughterhouses under the authority of the FSA.
Under the current law OVs have a right to request and see the footage if they have cause for concern that abuse may be occurring.
The BVA and VPHA are concerned that the purpose of CCTV in slaughterhouses is being fundamentally undermined if vets are refused access to footage and the footage is not monitored independently of the slaughterhouse business operator.
BVA president Sean Wensley said: “It is unacceptable that there are slaughterhouses that are not willing to share CCTV footage with official veterinarians.
“We are lobbying for CCTV to be mandatory in all slaughterhouses and for legislation to ensure that footage is readily available to vets.
“We need to foster a culture of compassion in slaughterhouses, coupled with robust and effective enforcement, so that the animals we farm for food have both a good life and a humane death.”
VPHA president Lewis Grant added: “The promotion of good animal welfare is fundamental to the core values of the VPHA and the ability of OVs in slaughterhouses to freely monitor the activities at the point of slaughter would not only ensure good animal welfare but also serve to promote the integrity of the industry as a whole.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
