Today, we have released our latest report titled ’The Case Against High-Concentration CO₂ Stunning and Killing of Pigs’ by vet Dr Steve McCulloch, which can be found here.
The report sets out a compelling case that the current practice used on an estimated 90% of pigs slaughtered in England and Wales is inhumane and morally unacceptable. The practice causes pigs extreme pain, breathlessness, panic, and distress for up to 60 seconds before loss of consciousness.
Dr McCulloch’s report draws on extensive scientific evidence, polling data, and welfare legislation to conclude that continued use of high-concentration CO₂ stunning constitutes a serious animal welfare failure. Alternative methods such as inert gas stunning using argon are available, more humane, and already being explored through initiatives such as the EU’s PigStun project.
High-concentration CO2 stunning causes severe suffering to around nine million pigs at slaughter in England and Wales each year. Current slaughter legislation in the UK is a clear case of policy failure; 90% of pigs are stunned/killed with CO2 and experience up to 30-60 seconds of severe suffering. This is despite slaughter legislation being based on the principle to provide for a humane death, and the British public consistently demonstrating strong preferences for government to legislate to protect the welfare of farmed animals.
Based on the findings, the report makes the following five recommendations to reform UK slaughter policy for pigs:
- The government should not permit meat from pigs killed using high concentration CO2 to be labelled as higher welfare, as the practice is clearly misleading to consumers.
- Government should act urgently to introduce legislation to ban the use of high-concentration CO2 stunning/killing of pigs. Given the severe welfare impacts in around 90% of pigs slaughtered in the UK, the method must be phased out within three years, by 2028.
- Legislation in the UK currently requires killing, as well as stunning, of pigs when using gases. Government should amend the relevant legislation to permit pigs to be stunned, and not necessarily killed, to make the use of alternative gases such as argon more feasible.
- Government should provide funding for abattoirs to retrofit slaughterhouses using CO2 stunning to facilitate the change to inert gases such as argon.
- Government should adopt the recommendations of the National Food Strategy (the 2021 ‘Dimbleby report’) for a 30% reduction in meat consumption by 2032.