Implementation of the animal slaughter regulation Andrea Gavinelli, Head of Unit Animal Welfare Directorate General for Health and Food Safety European Commission Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development 14 September 2015

EU animal welfare rules since 2013 Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 increases the responsibility of business operators Standard operating procedures Monitoring procedure at stunning Animal welfare officer Competence for staff handling animals 2

Auditing Member States (1) Integration of animal welfare in all food safety audits on slaughterhouses Full audits on animal welfare at slaughter in 13 Member States Desk study on Member States official instructions and codes of good practice (11 guides to good practice in seven Member States) 3

Auditing Member States (2) 2013 Estonia (pilot audit) 2014 Latvia, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, The Netherlands 2015 Poland, France 4

Auditing Member States (3) Results of the 13 full audits on slaughter Red meat slaughterhouses: no generalised operational problems detected till now Poultry slaughterhouses: lower electrical parameters are often used Good impact of the AWO brochure 5

Awareness and education International Conference on slaughter in 2012 Publication of a brochure on the animal welfare officer Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) EUWelNet pilot project (standard operating procedures on slaughter) 6

"The animal welfare officer in the European Union" 7

BTSF on animal welfare at slaughter E-learning course from March officials trained from 35 countries Training session every year Until 2015 one session per year (around 50 p) In 2016, two advanced training sessions (50 p x2) 8

Scientific actions The EFSA adopted opinions on monitoring at slaughter Toolboxes to assess consciousness Most common stunning methods + slaughter without stunning 9

Toolboxes on monitoring procedures Cattle Sheep/goats Pigs Poultry Sample size 10

International activities Equivalency requirement for all imported meat: "Regulation 191/2013 on model of veterinary certificates" International standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Training sessions in third countries (BTSF) see next slide 11

Regional BTSF training sessions in third countries Korea, October 2012, 70 participants Thailand, March 2014, 50 participants Brazil, November 2014, 70 participants Forthcoming events: Costa Rica, October 2015, 60 participants Sri Lanka, March 2016, 60 participants 12

Studies and reports Report on poultry stunning December 2013 Study on information to consumers on stunning May 2015 Report on restraining cattle by inversion (foreseen end 2015) 13

Information to consumers on the stunning of animals Information on stunning is not important for most consumers (except if raised) Unclear if consumers would use this information if available Labelling would result in higher prices for religious groups concerned and risk of stigmatisation 14

Conclusions Major innovations thanks to the EU legislation Overall good response from the industry No major enforcement problems identified except poultry stunning parameters Good cooperation ongoing with Member States and stakeholders to improve compliance 15

16 Thank you for your attention! ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/index_en.htm