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Animal Welfare Italian Journal of Food Safety 2015; volume 4:5504 Animal welfare: data from an in order to contrast the crisis of consumers con- fidence of the last years (Cenci Goga and Correspondence: Paola Sechi, Laboratory of Food online consultation Fermani, 2010). Inspection, Department of Veterinary Medicine, The concept of the animal welfare passes University of Perugia, via San Costanzo, 06126 Paola Sechi, Chiara Baldinelli, Maria F. through the entire life of livestock and the Perugia, Italy. Iulietto, Beniamino T. Cenci Goga European Community shares this value trans- Tel: +39.075.5857929 - Fax: +39.075.5857976. E-mail: [email protected] Laboratory of Food Inspection, mitting legislation for the animal protection. Department of Veterinary Medicine, The proposal and implementation of these Key words: Animal welfare; Consumers; Religious University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy rules are indicative of the growing interest of slaughter. Europeans in this topic and the increased con- cern for the implications that intensive farm- Received for publication: 26 August 2015. ing has on animal health, welfare, and health Revision received: 2 October 2015. Abstract safety of their meat. Accepted for publication: 3 October 2015 In recent decades, there have been a series This work is licensed under a Creative Commons This paper analyses data obtained from an of increasingly detailed rules on the welfare Attribution 3.0 License (by-nc 3.0). online survey related to animal welfare and and protection of animals also during slaugh- religious slaughter topics. The questionnaire ter. In Italy, the protection of animals from ©Copyright P. Sechi, et al., 2015 was conducted with the purpose of examining unnecessary suffering and cruelty represents a Licensee PAGEPress, Italy the purchase behaviour of a group of con- trend in legislation, starting from the Criminal Italian Journal of Food Safety 2015; 4:5504 sumers (with different religious orientation) Code of 1889 article 491 including punishment doi:10.4081/ijfs.2015.5504 and their views on animal protection and ritual for the mistreatment of animals to actual leg- slaughter. The main results of the consultation islation. were two. The first evidenced the respondents’ With Regulation No. 1009/2009 (European to the slaughter of animals prescribed by a reli- great interest about the question on animal Commission, 2009) the Council of the gion. This definition takes into account the welfare, which is in accordance with the grow- European Union considered it necessary to religious slaughter in all its aspects, not only ing interest of European citizens concerning amend European legislation regarding the pro- for jugulating an animal without prior stun- this issue. The second was the demand for a tection of animals during slaughter to adapt to ning. It is noted that not all anatomical parts of more transparent labelling of animal products, technological advances and scientific discover- ritually slaughtered animals are used for the which would also reflect animal welfare and ies and to respond to the growing interest of production of Halal or Kosher food. Finally, the slaughter method used. These results are Europeans for the improvement of animal wel- although the regulation prohibits cattle in contrast with marketing analysis, which fare. The regulation came into effect on restraint systems prior to hanging, there is an finds that consumers want to only receive pos- December 2009, was applied from January 1, exception in the case of ritually slaughtered itive information. Paradoxically, the more 2013, and repealed Council Directive animals provided that such devices are adapt- information is transmitted to reassure con- 93/119/EC of December 22 (European ed to the size of the animal and are not sumers, the higher is the risk to alarm them. Commission, 1993), 1993 on the protection of equipped with a device that limits the lateral animals at the time of slaughter or culling. The and vertical movements of the animal’s head. main items dealt with in Regulation No. The current regulation of religious slaughter is 1099/2009 are as follows: greater responsibility based on two principles, which are considered Introduction is given to operators regarding animal welfare; to be confrontational. On the one hand, there the introduction of the concept of correct stun- is a growing awareness of animal welfare that Animal welfare is not only an emotive issue ning indicators; the obligation to obtain a cer- led lawmakers to ban slaughter without prior surrounding meat production but also an tificate of qualification from staff involved in stunning on the grounds that such methods imperative human obligation; European citi- handling animals and/or the slaughter; the cause unnecessary pain to the animal. On the zens are becoming more aware of animal pro- introduction of responsible animal welfare; the other hand, there is the protection of religious tection and the effect on meat quality importance of standard operating procedures; freedom. Member States of the European (Kehlbacher et al., 2012). Not only farm animal and the requirement of prior approval of Union have balanced these two interests in rearing but also transport and slaughtering slaughterhouses, including aspects relating to different ways, and these differences have led constitute a strong impact in meat production animal welfare, by competent authorities. All to a variety of solutions. Belgium, Bulgaria, the and modern consumers’ expectations. The these aspects are meant to increase animal Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, European Commission, during last decade, welfare during slaughter. In the context of Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, carried out several surveys on food quality and, Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2009 (European Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, on detail, the Eurobarometer survey (Special Commission, 2009), the question of ritual Portugal, the Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Eurobarometer, 2007) demonstrated an evi- slaughter had a marginal role as Community Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom allow dent consumers’ interest in animal welfare rules on ritual slaughter have been transposed religious slaughter without prior stunning pro- friendly products. Those products represent differently depending on the national situa- vided that a number of legal requirements are food of animal origin obtained from animal tion. Considering that national rules take into respected. This also applies to Denmark with reared more respectfully. Among the totality, account dimensions that go beyond the objec- the exception of the slaughter of cattle, which 62% of the people involved in the question- tives of this regulation, it is important to main- allows post cut stunning, which is stunning naire expressed their willingness in buying tain the special dispensation from stunning of after jugulation. Austria, Denmark, Estonia, high welfare animal-based products (Cenci animals before slaughter while granting a cer- and Slovakia allow religious slaughter of cattle Goga and Fermani, 2010). tain level of subsidiarity to each Member State. without stunning provided that a method of Welfare labelling constitutes an impressive Compared to the previous legislation, the new stunning is used after jugulation (post cut way to communicate the attempts in improving regulation adopted a legal definition of ritual stunning). In Finland (with the exception of farm animals’ life and slaughtering conditions slaughter, intended as a series of acts related the province of Åland), while post cut stunning [page 230] [Italian Journal of Food Safety 2015; 4:5504] Article is not formally prescribed, they ruled that ani- ing link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ predominance of female individuals (60%). mals must be stunned at the same time as the viewform?formkey=dElnNFN0cXp4MXVwd2pC Almost all of the respondents were of Italian severing of the neck vessels. Latvia, Sweden, NFFiMll0SlE6MQ nationality (97%). and the Finnish province of Åland (which has The participants were mostly of the The initial questions of the questionnaire a separate legal system), does not allow the Christian religion, only 2% of the subjects defined the type of consumer based on the execution of religious slaughter without prior were Jewish or Muslim. The choice to use a family organization and the frequency of buy- stunning (Dialrel, 2009). computerized questionnaire instead of focus ing food. The purpose is to figure out if the Within the framework of the Dialrel project, groups made possible to reach a larger number consumer is buying only for himself/herself or in regards to religious slaughter financed by of interviewed. The animal welfare topics and buying food for a family. From this comparison, the European Community and divided into six purchasing behaviour have already been it is possible to assume that those married or under-projects, several documents have been addressed under another Community project cohabiting buy food regularly for their families formulated (Bottoni and Ferrari, 2010; Velarde called Welfare Quality (Special Eurobarometer, (41% always; 42% often) and to a lesser extent et al., 2010, 2014; Bergeaud-Blackler et al., 2005, 2007) funded by the European Union. singles (37% always; 25% often). In other 2012). These documents contain a series of The methodology of the questionnaire was cases, there are even lower percentages (22% recommendations for the proper practice of also used for the welfare quality Community always; 24%, often). Investigation
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