The call comes as the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC), which advises the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Scottish and Welsh Governments on the welfare of animals, published its own report on the welfare impacts on pigs of high concentration CO2 gas stunning.
Its report was commissioned by the Government in November 2024 to provide an up-to-date animal welfare assessment of the current evidence on high concentration CO2 stunning of pigs and potential alternative stunning methods.
The AWC recommended to the Government: “To prevent pigs experiencing avoidable pain, distress or suffering at slaughter associated with high concentration CO2 its use should be prohibited as a method of stunning for pigs.”
It also recommended that CO2 in combination with inert gases should also be prohibited as a method for the stunning of pigs.
It suggested that any transition period given to the industry to enable the change to alternative methods of slaughter, “should be as short as possible” and within five years.
Animal Equality UK has called on the UK Government to commit to an end to high-intensity CO2 stunning of pigs in its forthcoming Animal Welfare Strategy.
Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: “Footage gathered by Animal Equality shows just how agonising high-intensity CO2 stunning is: the pigs’ screams are deafening as they thrash around trying to escape the gas chambers. Experts have warned about this cruelty for decades, yet the Government has failed to act, leaving tens of millions of pigs to endure unimaginable suffering in their final moments of life. This must end.
“Consumers should be aware that the pigs slaughtered for UK pork products - whether from free-range or factory farms - will almost certainly have faced a deeply distressing and gruesome death.”
A spokesperson for Defra told Food Manufacture: “This government wants to see the highest possible standards of animal welfare at slaughter. We are now carefully considering the findings of this report.”
The Government is also reflecting on the results of the recently concluded EU PigStun project, which researched non-aversive stunning systems for pigs.
