(ECNS) -- East China's Shandong Province has published the country's first industry standard for chicken slaughter, vowing to end their lives in a humane way.
The standard encourages slaughterhouses to satisfy the basic needs of poultry, and relieve their pain and stress during the killing process.
It is an approach popular in developed countries to improve the quality of chicken products, said Sun Jingxin, a professor at Shandong Agricultural University College of Food and Engineering. Sun's team, together with Nanjing Agricultural University, formulated the national standard after years of research.
Some measures that are believed to reduce stress and make poultry more relaxed during capture, transport and loading were detailed in the standard. The guideline states chickens should be captured with a trap or by two wings using both hands, but not seized by a single wing or their thighs. Transport should occur within three hours of slaughter, and using a touch panel on the chicken's chest can make it feel safe and peaceful. Another recommendation calls for using gas to put poultry into coma before processing.
Producing about 20 percent of chickens in the country, Shandong leads China's poultry breeding industry, Sun said. But at times poor quality, which can include blood clots, broken chicken wings and legs caused by poor slaughtering processes, has become a huge obstruction in entering overseas markets, it was added.
Sun said he believes the standard can improve national poultry processing technologies and help the industry meet global standards.
