• DOI:10.1136/vr.146.3.65
• Corpus ID: 14062135

Survey of the effectiveness of stunning procedures used in Spanish pig abattoirs

@article{Velarde2000SurveyOT,
  title={Survey of the effectiveness of stunning procedures used in Spanish pig abattoirs},
  author={Antonio Velarde and Marina Gispert and Luigi Faucitano and Xavier Manteca and Alejandro Diestre},
  journal={Veterinary Record},
  year={2000},
  volume={146},
  pages={65 - 68}
}

• A. Velarde, M. Gispert, +2 authors A. Diestre
• Published 15 January 2000
• Medicine
• Veterinary Record

Two pig abattoirs (A and B) equipped with an automated head-only and head-to-chest electrical stunning system, and two (C and D) equipped with a manual carbon dioxide stunning system, were evaluated to compare the effectiveness of stunning in a total of 10,454 pigs slaughtered under commercial conditions. In the abattoirs with the electrical stunning system, the percentage of animals that responded to a nose prick was significantly lower (P<0.05) in abattoir B, where a higher current intensity was used (P<0.05), than in abattoir A. No righting reflex was observed in the electrically stunned pigs. In the abattoirs with the carbon dioxide stunning system, the percentage of animals that responded to a nose prick and showed a righting reflex was significantly lower (P<0.05) in abattoir C, where the duration of the carbon dioxide cycle was longer and the interval between discharge from the system to sticking was shorter (P<0.05), than in D. Comparing the electrical and carbon dioxide stunning systems, the pigs stunned with carbon dioxide were significantly more responsive to a nose prick (P<0.05) and 25 per cent of them showed a righting reflex. Under the conditions of the study the fully automated head-only stunning with additional chest electrodes appeared to be more effective and less susceptible to incorrect handling than the manual carbon dioxide stunning system.