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Areas of Routine Violations (cont'd)

Violations
Meat Inspection Act Part III
62.(1) "No food animal shall be handled in a manner that subjects the animal to avoidable distress or
avoidable pain.
63.(2) "Every food animal that is obviously diseased or injured shall immediately be segregated from
apparently healthy food animals."
64. "Every holding pen that is used for food animals awaiting slaughter shall be provided with adequate
ventilation and shall not be used in a manner that results in their overcrowding."
65. "Every food animal in a holding pen awaiting slaughter shall be provided with access to potable
water and shall, if held for more than 24 hours, be provided with feed."
77. "Despite subsection 79, every food animal that is ritually slaughtered in accordance with Judaic or
Islamic law shall be restrained and slaughtered by means of a cut resulting in rapid, simultaneous and
complete severance of the jugular veins and carotid arteries, in a manner that causes the animal to
lose consciousness immediately.
79. "Every food animal that is slaughtered shall, before being bled,

(a) be rendered unconscious in a manner that ensures that it does not regain

consciousness before death, by one of the following methods:

(i)

by delivering a blow to the head by means of a penetrating or non-penetrating
mechanical device in a manner that causes immediate loss of consciousness,

(ii)

by exposure to a gas or a gas mixture in a manner that causes a rapid loss of
consciousness, or

(iii)

by the application of an electrical current in a manner that causes immediate loss
of consciousness

80. "No equipment or instrument for restraining, slaughtering or rendering unconscious any food
animal shall be used by any person for those purposes

(a) unless the person is, by reason of the person's competence and physical condition, able to

do so without subjecting the animal to avoidable distress or avoidable pain; or

(b) where the condition of the equipment or instrument or the manner in which or the

circumstances under which the equipment or instrument is used might subject the animal to
avoidable distress or avoidable pain.

Recommendations

CETFA recommends that:

Controlled-atmosphere killing be adopted as a replacement for the electrified stun bath for
poultry slaughter. Controlled-atmosphere killing (using a mixture of inert gases, such as
nitrogen or argon in air with less than 2 percent residual oxygen), has been proven to be
effective and humane in the killing of all poultry. The gases are non-aversive to the birds (can
be breathed undetected) and cause no sign of respiratory discomfort. According to a regulatory
impact analysis statement posted on Canadian Food Inspection Agency's website in 2000: "The
procedure is fast, painless, efficient and there is no recovery from unconsciousness because
the birds are also killed by exposure to the gas mixture. Rapid gassing also reduces the
incidence of broken bones, bruises and haemorrhages in muscle, all of which are associated
with electrical stunning." An added benefit for both the birds and workers is that the birds are
taken directly from the transport vehicles in their crates, which are put into a chamber where the
killing occurs. There is no need to handle the birds.

Until the controlled-atmosphere killing is implemented, that the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency inspectors enforce the laws and lay charges where violations occur.