Evaluación del bienestar animal en dos plantas de faenamiento municipal en la etapa de insensibilización y post mortem de bovinos sacrificados

Abstract

Research on animal welfare in slaughter processes has been increasing due to the interest given by the consumer during the purchase. Animal welfare is conceptualized as the comfortable environment in which an animal thrives. In the present study, the aim was to diagnose compliance with basic animal welfare standards during stunning. A sample of 400 cattle was required for each carcass in which indicators of sensitivity were measured during and after stunning. The results of the study were alarming when verifying the return of sensitivity by observation. The indicators studied were rhythmic respiration (Floor A 86.3% and 99.8% on floor B), corneal reflex (Floor A 86.3% and 98.8% on floor B), head and neck elevation (Plant A 76.3% and 98.3% in plant B), tail movement (Plant A 87.3% and 100% in plant B), regurgitation (Plant A 35.3% and 31.5% on floor B) and limb movement (Floor A and B 100%). Thus, the effect of the stun gun as a sacrifice method was also analyzed, precision (Plant A 50.8% and 28.5% in plant B), orientation (Plant A 11.75% and 4.25 % in plant B) and depth of the shot (Plant A 28.5% and 33.5% in plant B). It can be deduced that there is a breach of the animal welfare parameters according to Ley de mataderos, (1996), Temple Grandin, (1998) and the OIE, (2006), (2006), presuming that the possible causes are the inappropriate use of the stunning device, incorrect ergonomic design, limited personnel training, lack of maintenance of the gun, labor fatigue and incorrect design of the knockout box. The study recommends installing improvement actions in the short, medium and long term in order to mitigate the problem and favor animal welfare and the quality of the meat.