Rules have been adjusted for slaughterers

From the veterinary rules for the slaughter of farm animals, the requirement that livestock must be killed in ways that do not cause them stress has been removed. Such an order of the Ministry of Agriculture is published on the official Internet portal of legal information. But the requirement to carry out the procedure by humane methods remained. True, according to experts, in any case, the norm is too vague to protect animals from sadistic methods of slaughter. What methods of slaughter can be called humane and what should be observed by slaughterers in order not to fall under administrative and criminal liability, the Parlamentskaya Gazeta examined.

What is allowed and what is not

The new veterinary rules for slaughter of animals and veterinary and sanitary examination of meat were approved by the Ministry of Agriculture in April last year. They went into effect on September 1st. Among other things, they stated that "the slaughter of animals is carried out in ways that do not cause stress to animals and ensure the humane treatment of animals." But later the rules were edited, removing the mention of stress from them. Now it is only about humane treatment.

There is no specific list of what methods of slaughter are acceptable in the document. Only the sequence of actions is indicated - first immobilize and stun, then bleed.

As a result, the slaughterers themselves decide which methods are considered merciful. The most humane is electric shock, says Svetlana Maksimova, chairman of the Council of the Association of Peasant (Farmer) Households and Agricultural Cooperatives of Russia (AKKOR), who has worked on the farm for 15 years. In this case, the animal is slaughtered while it is unconscious.

On small farms, other methods are often chosen. “For example, bulls are shot. Somewhere, animals are hit on the head with a sledgehammer to stun and then slaughter,” Maksimova said. In any case, it is impossible not to cause stress in the animal that was decided to be slaughtered, so it is only right that this part of the rules was removed, she believes.

It doesn’t make much difference whether “stress” is mentioned in the rules or not, since the norm is too general in any case, the animal rights activist believes the lawyer of the public movement “Be a Human!” Svetlana Siebert. In her opinion, hitting the head is also a dubious method of stunning from the point of view of humanity. The most progressive is the euthanasia of livestock and poultry before slaughter with carbon dioxide.

Sleeping with carbon dioxide is used in Russia in the production of pork, Yulia Parfenova, chairman of the board of the National Union of Meat Processors, told Parliamentary Newspaper. “Several pigs are driven into tunnels, carbon dioxide is supplied. They fall asleep, and then they hang them sleeping and beat them to death. It turns out death in a dream, ”she explained.

In the production of beef and poultry, older methods are more often used. This is an electric shock, mechanical stunning with a sledgehammer or stylet.

Also in Russia, the so-called halal slaughter is practiced - they cut the carotid artery of sheep and other animals without stunning, Siebert added. The lawyer explained that, based on the current rules of the Ministry of Agriculture, this is considered a violation. And, for example, in the European Union, such methods of slaughter are allowed, dictated by religious considerations. But at the same time, it is necessary to wield a sharply sharpened knife and be sure to fix the animal in a natural position - it is forbidden to hang it up and tie its legs, which, unfortunately, occurs in Russia, Siebert added.

In general, the rules of the Ministry of Agriculture lack specifics, for example, a ban on killing animals in front of their relatives and a list of permitted equipment - a rusty knife can prolong the agony of an animal by minutes - but the main problem is the lack of control, Siebert added. In her opinion, what is happening in slaughterhouses could be monitored by animal welfare specialists, as is done in some foreign countries. Or you can arrange video surveillance. The maximum automation of the process also helps - thanks to it, there are usually fewer violations at large plants.

In the meantime, according to the lawyer, the control authorities are primarily monitoring the quality of the meat received, and not the treatment of farm animals. For violation of any veterinary and sanitary rules for slaughtering animals or harvesting meat, companies can be fined 10-20 thousand rubles, an official - 3-5 thousand, a citizen - 0.5-1 thousand rubles. Criminal liability - from a fine of 120 thousand rubles to imprisonment for two years - occurs only if non-compliance with the rules has led to an epidemic among animals in the region and other serious consequences. And for sadism against any animals, you can be charged under the article "Cruelty to animals." “But not a single criminal case has definitely been opened in the wake of bullying farm animals during slaughter,” the zoo lawyer noted.

It is necessary to make the most of modern technologies, avoiding methods when death does not occur immediately and the animal continues to be conscious, said Vladimir Kashin, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues. It is necessary to apply such types of slaughter so that everything happens instantly, and the blood is removed when the animal is already lifeless.

If a pig has a temperature, the

Rules of the Ministry of Agriculture regulate other points. So, only identified animals that have been examined by a veterinarian can be sent for slaughter. If there are injured cattle in the party, they must be killed first. If there is a suspicion that the cattle has caught the infection, it should not be allowed to eat meat. The veterinarian should be alerted by some symptoms, including the body temperature of the animal, which differs from the physiological norm for its species and age.

Before slaughter, the animal cannot be fed for a strictly agreed time, for example, a sheep or a goat -15 hours, a rabbit - at least 5, a bird - 6-12 hours. The processes of slaughter must be separated: separately immobilize, bleed, skin and gut.

As the chairman of the ACKOR Council explained, the main difference between the new rules and the previous ones is that before it was possible to simply slaughter the cattle and bring the meat to the laboratory to be checked and certified for its quality, and now you need to invite a veterinarian before slaughter to assess the condition animal.

All this applies only to cases where the resulting meat or offal goes on sale. If citizens slaughter livestock for themselves, these rules are not required.

Don't forget to check your tongue

Before the release of meat into circulation, it must be subjected to a veterinary and sanitary examination - to check whether the maximum permissible levels of residues of veterinary drugs, including animal growth stimulants, are not exceeded in it. We need to find out if the pig or horse had trichinosis - a disease caused by small helminth larvae, which can only be seen under a microscope. How to inspect each organ of a killed animal is also described in the rules. For example, the tongue should be felt, and when examining the lungs, the lymph nodes should be cut.

According to the results of the study, one of the decisions is made - to release meat and offal for sale without restrictions, send it for disinfection and removal of parasites, dispose of it or destroy it altogether if, for example, the product is infected with anthrax.