Calls to prohibit the use of CO2 gas stunning in pig supply chains have been described as “seriously flawed” and would render the UK pork sector “completely uncompetitive”, meat processors have warned.
A policy paper published by Defra’s independent Animal Welfare Committee earlier this month suggested the sector should be “prohibited” from using the pre-slaughter process due to animal welfare concerns, with a transition to other stunning methods proposed within the next five years.
Some 90% of the pigs reared in England and Wales were now subject to pre-slaughter stunning using the paternoster controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) system – which involves placing animals in modified gas environments leading to loss of consciousness and death – the report said, referencing a 2024 FSA study.
The remaining 10% of pigs were stunned using the previously dominant manual head-only or head-to-body electrical stunning system, or for a very small number, percussive stunning with a penetrative captive bolt device, the report revealed.
The use of CO2 stunning “causes pigs to suffer pain, respiratory distress and fear as demonstrated through escape behaviour, gasping and vocalisation”, the Committee said, while suggesting the use of inert gases – such as a mix of argon or nitrogen – were “significantly less aversive” to pigs than CO2.
“Industry should seek to implement the changes as quickly as possible,” the report added, though it also cautioned there were “technical challenges” to implementing such a system.
The proposals have been welcomed by animal welfare campaigners, with Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality, saying “the science is clear and the evidence undeniable. Experts have warned about the cruelty of this practice for decades”.
The impact on the pigmeat industry
However, such a shift away from the CO2 gas system would “mark the UK out as a single outlier in the world – no other country has gone down this route”, said British Meat Processors Association CEO Nick Allen.
“Whilst five years sounds like a long time, the structural changes to plants that would be needed will be difficult to achieve in that timeframe and would likely not yield the desired animal welfare improvements,” he argued.
“As the report acknowledges, there is currently no commercially tested inert gas alternative to CO2 that has been trialled, licensed and is ready to implement,” Allen said.
“Additionally, the animal welfare issues (which the report highlights) associated with the other suggested alternatives would prove worse than the current system, putting more stress, not less, onto animals,” he claimed, citing the report’s point on how CO2 acted more quickly than inert gases.
Given the UK imported about 50% of its pigmeat, and how it would be illegal to ban imports from countries using CO2, moving away from the gas would also “slow down operations to such an extent that it would render processors completely uncompetitive”, Allen suggested.
“It would decimate the domestic pigmeat industry and be a severe blow to UK food security.”
And while the AWC had looked at the issue with the “best of intentions”, there were “serious flaws to some of their recommendations which could have unintended consequences and could even reverse some of the improvements in animal welfare achieved in Britain over the years”.
Allen’s comments were echoed by National Pig Association CEO Lizzie Wilson, who said any new approach “must be commercially viable, to ensure uptake, to ensure quality of meat, and to prevent any unintended consequences for welfare”.
For example, throughput capacity “must be sufficient to ensure that pigs are not held on farm or in lairage for longer than necessary”, she added.
“We have awaited the outcomes of the AWC report with interest, and while it has delivered a comprehensive investigation into the welfare aspect of this issue, unfortunately there is still no conclusive ‘best’ alternative due to issues with throughput capacity, meat quality and cost. The UK pig industry must now work together to decide how we go forward.”
A Defra spokesperson said the government was “now carefully considering the findings of this report”.
The department was said to recognise the “long-standing animal welfare concerns with high-concentration carbon dioxide (CO2) stunning of pigs” and was “actively looking at alternative approaches and considering the options available to us to support positive progress”.
It comes as the supply of domestic CO2 gas remains in the balance, with the future of the UK’s main CO2 producer Ensus currently unresolved after it warned earlier this year it faced “imminent closure”, in the wake of the UK/US trade deal.
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