VETS HAVE raised the alarm over the growing number of animals being slaughtered without pre-stunning in UK abattoirs – but the Scottish meat sector has insisted that this is only a problem south of the Border.

According to analysis of the latest UK Food Standards Agency figures by the British Veterinary Association, the number of livestock going through the non-stun route into the food chain has risen sharply – a trend that the vets insist 'unnecessarily compromises' the welfare of animals at the time of death.

FSA figures suggest that almost a quarter of sheep and goats, 24.4% slaughtered between April and June this year, had their throats cut without first being made insensible to pain. This is an increase from 15% in 2013, when the EU and the UK adopted legislation allowing an exemption for animals that are slaughtered under religious auspices.

At the same time, the FSA figures also revealed that the number of chickens being slaughtered without pre-stunning has soared from 3% in 2013 to 18.5% in 2017.

BVA president Gudrun Ravetz said: “This huge increase in the number of sheep, goats and poultry that are not stunned or not stunned effectively before slaughter is a grave concern to our profession. Millions of individual animals are affected, making this a major animal welfare issue.

“The supply of meat from animals that have not been stunned massively outstrips the demand from the communities for which it is intended and is entering the mainstream market unlabelled," she claimed.

“In the light of these official figures we reiterate our call for all animals to be stunned before slaughter. If slaughter without stunning is still to be permitted, any meat from this source must be clearly labelled and the supply of non-stun products should be matched with demand.”

According to BVA’s latest member survey, welfare at slaughter remains one of the most pressing health and welfare concerns for UK vets – and the BVA has long campaigned for the re-introduction of law that guarantees all animals are stunned before slaughter, or at the very least, that non-stunned meat is clearly labelled as such so that consumers can use their spending power to curb any excess supply finding its way out of religiously-defined markets.

Answering the BVA's charge, a spokesman for the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers was unequivocal: “There is absolutely no non-stunning taking place in Scottish abattoirs.”

SAMW's assertion was supported by Food Standards Scotland, which delivers animal welfare controls in approved slaughterhouses in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government: "All animals, including poultry, processed in approved slaughterhouses in Scotland are stunned prior to slaughter," said communications manager Holly McLennan.

Questioned about the applicability of its complaints to Scotland, a BVA spokesperson conceded: "The FSA figures do not include figures from Scottish slaughterhouses.

"Nevertheless, I'd like to flag that the FSA statistics would still be relevant for Scotland as people living north of the Border could be eating non-stun meat that is in the mainstream food chain, given the lack of clear labelling for such products."