{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02062780269058296, 'fraction_numerical': 0.002017937219730942, 'mean_word_length': 5.3008474576271185, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 1, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
CCTV ‘offers some real benefits’ in slaughterhouses, says the FAWC

ALL approved slaughterhouse operators should install closed circuit television in all areas where live animals are kept and where animals are stunned and killed, the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) has recommended. The committee believes that, despite some limitations and concerns about its use, CCTV offers ‘real benefits’ to food business operators (FBOs) and the food chain. The recommendation is made in an opinion from the committee on the use of CCTV in slaughterhouses to assess animal welfare, which was published on February 3. In the opinion, the committee, which advises Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales on the welfare of farmed animals, notes that there have been increasing calls from lobby groups and others for mandatory CCTV use in slaughterhouses and that, as a result, the Government is interested in whether current observation and verification efforts should be supplemented by the use of CCTV. To inform its opinion, the FAWC reviewed scientific papers and held a consultation exercise to gather views from farming and meat producers’ representative bodies, farm assurance scheme providers, levy bodies, regulators, veterinary organisations and welfare groups. It notes that, while there are currently no legal powers to impose compulsory CCTV in slaughterhouses, the use of CCTV has grown significantly in recent years and that, by the time of the Food Standards Agency’s 2013 animal welfare survey in slaughterhouses in Great Britain, 43 per cent of red meat slaughterhouses and 55 per cent of white meat slaughterhouses had some form of CCTV in use for animal welfare purposes. It also notes that most major food retailers insist on CCTV being used in supply chain slaughterhouses. Discussing drivers for the mandatory use of CCTV in slaughterhouses, the committee says that concern that possible individual and systematic acts of animal abuse are taking place without detection in a number of facilities has ‘come to dominate the debate’. However, it says, the advantages of CCTV in slaughterhouses identified during its consultation went further than identifying or preventing individual occurrences of animal mistreatment and abuse. ‘CCTV would allow retrospective assessment of the functioning of the lairage, handling and slaughter areas,’ it says. ‘This should allow an assessment of how better provision could be made for the behavioural needs of the animal waiting for slaughter and its treatment at stunning.’ The committee considers a range of issues associated with the use of CCTV in slaughterhouses, including the potential benefits and limitations, the practical challenges and ethical issues. It concludes that CCTV can contribute to the maintenance and respect of animal welfare standards as well as to increased consumer confidence. ‘Although it should not replace on-site physical presence of FBO staff, OVs and others, we believe on the basis of the evidence we have seen that it can be a valuable complement to them,’ it says. CCTV can be used to complement physical examination and as an important tool to demonstrate compliance and due diligence, the committee adds. While it recognises the limitations and concerns associated with introducing and using CCTV in slaughterhouses, it believes that, as a complement to existing statutory requirements and management practices for the observation and verification of slaughterhouse practices, ‘CCTV offers some real benefits to FBOs and the rest of the food chain’. Making recommendations, the committee says that all assurance scheme operators, food retailers and others in the food chain should require that CCTV is installed in the slaughterhouses that they are associated with, and that CCTV should be installed in a way that allows for clear and uninterrupted recording of all actions and areas involving live animals and animal killing. It also recommends that the slaughter industry produces a common set of good practice protocols for the review, evaluation and use of CCTV footage. Other recommendations cover how the CCTV should be installed and operated, how staff should be trained and informed about CCTV use, and how future developments in technology should be progressed to protect animal welfare. The FAWC’s ‘Opinion on CCTV in slaughterhouses’ can be downloaded from www.gov.uk/government/groups/farmanimal-welfare-committee-fawc#opinionsand-reports