Broiler stunning in electrical water bath: Validation of an animal welfare–based method for assessing stunning effectiveness
Yukari Togami, Jolien Hacker, Elke Rauch, Michael Erhard, Paul Schmidt, Helen Louton · 2026
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Description
Yukari Togami and colleagues validate, in a 2026 study, a method for judging whether electrical water bath stunning works on broiler chickens under slaughter conditions. The method dominates European poultry slaughter yet faces welfare criticism, and alternatives need a benchmark. Trained observers in one slaughterhouse across 2021 and 2022 scored bird behavior before, during, and after stunning. They compared four production systems from light conventional to organic, probing age, weight, transport time, weather, and bath current.
Pre-stunning behavior differed by system: organic birds showed the most reactions while label-system birds showed the least, and older, lighter birds reacted more strongly. Wing flapping during shackling ranged widely, from 12.60 percent in label birds to 29.00 percent in light conventional birds in the 2022 data. Stunning failure after the bath was rare, appearing in organic birds in 2021 at 0.01 percent of those observed. The authors conclude small handling and bird differences move welfare outcomes.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yukari Togami, Jolien Hacker, Elke Rauch, Michael Erhard, Paul Schmidt, Helen Louton |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 68 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |