The European Commission is not planning to ban the use of high-concentration carbon dioxide gas (CO2) for stunning pigs, the commissioner for health and animal welfare has indicated.
According to a report by the Brussels Times, Olivér Várhelyi has set out the Commission’s position to animal welfare NGOs.
The NGOs had written to him, calling for the removal of high concentrations of CO2 from the list of permitted stunning methods for pigs. They highlighted this as among the areas where they felt no progress had been made to revise the EU’s ‘outdated animal welfare legislation’, including stunning methods, particularly following the PigStun research project.
The PigStun project, initiated and financed by the Commission, tested and compared different slaughter methods with the objective of encouraging EU pig slaughterhouses to adopt more animal-friendly methods using non-aversive stunning.
In his reply, seen by The Brussels Times, Mr Várhelyi highlighted the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) conclusions that exposure to CO2 at high concentrations is ‘highly aversive and causes pain, fear, and respiratory distress’, and that it should be replaced by exposure to other gas mixtures.
But he repeated the Commission’s previous comments that the regulation already permits the use of the non-aversive alternatives identified in the PigStun project.
“This means operators can already adopt them without requiring regulatory changes,” he wrote. “It should be considered that while these alternatives present a balance of welfare, economic, and practical considerations (eg, cost, ease of implementation), they also involve challenges for their commercial implementation (eg, lower throughput rates, installation of stunning equipment) that could affect their application.”
A Commission official told The Brussels Times that legislative follow-up ‘is not currently foreseen’. “As mentioned previously, alternatives evaluated by the PigStun project are already included in Annex I of the EU Regulation 1099/2009 and are authorised for use by operators at the EU level without requiring regulatory changes,” they added.
“The data provided by EFSA’s opinion on the risks associated with C02 stunning at high concentration, and the PIGSTUN project, are EU-level data and evidence. These can be used by certification schemes,” the Commission official said.
UK position
In its Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December, Defra stated its intention to ban the use of CO2 gas stunning of pigs, subject to a consultation. The strategy states that there is ‘a pressing need to address the welfare issues associated with high concentration CO2 gas stunning of pigs’. A consultation was expected this year, but there is still no indications of whether it will appear or any timings.
In March, AHDB published an economic analysis highlighting the significant extra costs and disruption that would be involved in converting pork plants from high-concentration CO2 stunning systems to alternatives.