Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 20
1 particularly vets, involved.
2
3 In some cases the slaughterhouse people and other people
4 along the chain appointed their own officials who should
5 act as, if you like, animal welfare officials. But they
6 were employed by the company. This was associated at the
7 time with the adoption of a scheme called HACCP. You know
8 about that.
9
10 That has meant there has now been more supervision one way
11 and another by various officials doing various jobs. They
12 have really carried into effect some of the recommendations
13 that animal welfare organisations such as FAWC have been
14 asking for over the years.
15
16 Q. Did that become more marked after this 1990 Act?
17 A. Yes, it was much more marked after that, and it began
18 to be more marked in the late 1980s because I think
19 actually the Richmond Report came out in probably 1988 or
20 1989.
21
22 Q. Page 41, it talks about sticking. It says what you have
23 already said: "The object of sticking is to cut off the
24 blood supply to the brain and it is critical that to
25 achieve this with the minimum of delay the cut must be
26 accurate"?
27 A. Just tell me which page, would you mind?
28
29 Q. Sorry, the bottom of page 41.
30 A. Yes, I see.
31
32 Q. Then it says: "We are not satisfied that slaughtermen are
33 aware of this necessity." What do they mean by that, or
34 what is your view on that? Are slaughtermen aware of the
35 necessity of speedy sticking?
36 A. Slaughtermens' knowledge of physiology, particularly
37 the brain, is pretty limited, very limited, I would say.
38 They know that you have to bleed the animal out. There is
39 a good deal of confusion in this matter of bleeding out
40 because, if you take an animal that is shot or shot in the
41 wild, you would kill it first and then bleed it out. But
42 the ritual in the meat industry is that you have to bleed
43 it out while the heart is still pumping, and you bleed out
44 most of the blood that way. But you do not have to do it
45 that way. You can still get as much blood, or nearly as
46 much blood, out by killing it outright first of all and
47 then bleeding it, and it will drain out even though the
48 animal is dead.
49
50 But in the trade there is a good deal of resistance for
51 what is called stun killing which is both stunning and
52 killing in one shock, one hefty shock. You want me to talk
53 about cattle, well, that does apply to cattle but does
54 apply to other species as well, particularly pigs.
55
56 Q. On page 45, point 183 -- we are nearly through this now --
57 talking about casualty animals, "... current provisions ...
58 are both confusing and inadequate". It has been put to
59 them, and they concluded, that the situation is indeed
60 unsatisfactory. You have expressed something about
