How are poultry slaughtered?
A 10. Large scale processing plants slaughter poultry using electrical water baths or gas. For electrical waterbath stunning, poultry are unloaded from their transport containers and hung by both legs onto a moving shackle line, which conveys them to the waterbath. The birds’ heads swing into the electrified water in the bath and a stunning current passes from their head, through their body, to their feet in the shackles. This causes the bird to become unconscious. The electrical parameters of the waterbath can be set to either a) only stun the birds or b) stun-kill them. To ensure all birds die, they are then bled at the neck as soon as possible after they exit the waterbath. For gas killing, poultry are conveyed through a machine which maintains an atmosphere containing proportions of gases that cause the bird to become unconscious and then die. Some machines convey the birds through the gas in their transport containers so there is minimal handling; others unload the birds prior to