Stakeholder perceptions on broiler chicken welfare during first-day processing and the pre-slaughter phase: a case study in Belgium

SUMMARY

Day of hatch and pre-slaughter processing are stressful events (involving selection, handling and transport) for broiler chickens, putting pressure on welfare, which has economic consequences. This case-study documented common industry practices and evaluated poultry industry stakeholder perceptions related to broiler welfare during day-of-hatch processing and the pre-slaughter phase. Twenty-three individual in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives of key stakeholders in the Flemish poultry sector: hatchery personnel (five), farmers (six), poultry catchers (two), transporters (three) and slaughterhouse personnel (seven). The findings showed various factors influencing broiler welfare during day of hatch processing and the pre-slaughter phase, with some discrepancies between stakeholder views and the scientific evidence. While stakeholders perceived the day of hatch processing procedures of chicks to be relatively under control, with no major issues, literature points out several issues, including first-week mortality and time without feed and water as major welfare problems. For broilers at slaughter age, the industry stakeholders’ views aligned well with scientific evidence on major welfare issues, such as injuries, thermal stress, mortality during fasting, catching, loading, transportation and lairage. This study provides novel insights in stakeholder perceptions, and potential avenues for future research and actions to reduce animal welfare problems in the poultry sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Broiler
• chick
• welfare
• slaughter
• transport
• industry

Acknowledgments

We thank collaborating industry stakeholders for their time and cooperation for this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors acknowledge no financial interest or benefit from the direct applications of our research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Federal Public Service (FPS) for Health, Food Chain Safety [RT12/1 WELLTRANS]; Environment and the Department of the Environment, Nature and Energy of the Government of Flanders [RT12/1 WELLTRANS].

Notes on contributors

Evelien Lambrecht

Evelien Lambrecht graduated as business engineer in 2010 at Ghent University. In 2016, she obtained her PhD degree at the faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University. Afterwards, she was involved in several national and international research project within the agrifoodsector, mainly situated in the domain of innovation within the supply chain.

Leonie Jacobs

Leonie Jacobs is an assistant professor in the department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech, USA. With a research and extension appointment, she focuses her efforts towards improving the welfare of production animals. Her current work includes research on euthanasia methods for large poultry, the identification of biomarkers for positive affective states, pasture-based broiler production, pain management for piglets, and cognitive bias in cultured trout.

Evelyne Delezie

Evelyne Delezie is a senior researcher and research group leader of the Small Livestock Husbandry Research Group of the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO, Belgium). She’s vice-president of the WPSA Belgium and is active in a number of European WPSA working groups. Her research focus is on poultry nutrition, management, health and welfare. Main topics of interest are nutrient requirements, alternative crude protein sources and their relation with ammonia emission. Furthermore she studies relationships between nutrition, egg and meat quality, and poultry health.

Hans De Steur

Hans De Steur is professor in quantitative research methods in socio-economics at the Division of Agri-food Marketing and Chain Management, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ghent University. His research is situated in the field of agri-food marketing and agricultural economics, with a focus on consumer, stakeholder and impact analysis.

Xavier Gellynck

Xavier Gellynck is head of the division Agro-food Marketing and Chain Management, Ghent University. He applies socio-economic and marketing techniques to agro-food. His research concentrates on complex agri-business topics (agriculture, horticulture, food processing and distribution) in both domestic and foreign markets. He lectures in several courses on economics, business management and consumer science at Ghent University.

Frank Tuyttens

Frank Tuyttens is head of the Farm Animal Welfare & Behaviour Research Group of the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO, Belgium). He is also appointed as visiting professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University for teaching and researching the ethology and welfare of farm animals.