| USDA's
Food Safety and Inspection Service published a notice urging
slaughterhouses to use a systematic approach to ensure that
they are meeting the requirements of the Humane Methods
of Slaughter Act.
FSIS
recommends establishments identify where and under what
circumstances livestock may experience excitement, discomfort,
or accidental injury while being handled in connection with
the slaughter process. Also, establishments are encouraged
to design facilities and implement practices that will minimize
discomfort and injury in accordance with existing regulations.
Plants should periodically evaluate their system for effectiveness
and improve or adjust operations accordingly. FSIS believes
implementing these steps will serve to improve product quality
and efficiency as well as enhance worker safety.
In
previous years, FSIS has taken substantial and comprehensive
action to ensure the humane treatment and slaughter of animals
in establishments. In 2001, FSIS was able to hire District
Veterinary Medical Specialists to serve as the primary contact
for humane handling and slaughter issues in each district.
In 2003, FSIS issued a directive to provide FSIS inspection
personnel additional information on humane handling verification
procedures and to clarify enforcement actions to be taken
for violations.
In
February 2004, FSIS implemented the electronic Humane Activities
Tracking program (HAT) to document inspection activities
that ensure livestock are humanely handled in federally
inspected facilities. HAT provides FSIS with more accurate
and readily available information on the activities and
time spent by inspection personnel to ensure humane handling
and slaughter requirements are met.
The
HMSA requires that humane methods for handling and slaughtering
be used for all meat inspected by FSIS. This statute seeks
to prevent needless suffering and results in safer and better
working conditions. FSIS assigns inspectors to slaughter
plants to ensure compliance with HMSA requirements for humane
slaughter and handling methods.
FSIS
said it issued the notice because there has been considerable
Congressional and public interest about the humane treatment
of animals, and because the number of humane handling noncompliance
incidents documented by FSIS in establishments has increased
over the last three years. In recent years, Congress has
taken various actions to strengthen USDA's resources and
to ensure that the agency enforces the humane handling and
slaughter provisions of the HMSA and the FMIA. FSIS has
received more than 20,000 letters during the past few years
from individuals, consumer organizations, and animal welfare
organizations expressing concerns regarding the humane treatment
of livestock.
For
more information contact Lynn Dickey, Ph.D., Director, Regulations
and Petitions Policy Staff, Office of Policy, FSIS, Tel:
(202) 720-5627.
|
