China tries to improve its rep with animal-welfare guidelines

Chinese officials in Shangdong Province have ratified the country’s first government-backed recommendations for how to slaughter chickens, says the New York Times. The guidelines, which were are not mandatory, are both an attempt to quell activists’ concerns and corner the export poultry market, which increasingly calls for more humane animal production.

“Shandong is China’s leading producer of chickens, but traces of damage to the birds, like broken limbs or blood clots in the meat, have hurt exports,” says the Times.

And yet, economics aside, many activists were pleased to hear the announcement from China. “It’s a step in the right direction,” says Jeff Zhou, China representative of Compassion in World Farming, a British organization that aims to stop factory farming.

According to the Times, “the guidelines advise against transporting a live chicken longer than three hours. A chicken should be held with both hands, not seized by a single leg or wing. Before being killed, the bird should be anesthetized by being gassed or having its head dipped into electrified water. The guidelines also recommend using a massaging pad to support the chicken’s breast as the birds are moved on an assembly line to be stunned.”

Sun Jingxin, a food science professor at Qingdao Agricultural University and the author of the Shandong guidelines, admitted that they are shaped to attract more high-end buyers for Chinese-produced meat at home and abroad. To appeal to conscientious consumers, Sun and his colleagues recommended the use of a high-voltage stunning system like that used in the E.U., rather than the low-voltage system common in the U.S.

“The E.U. way is considered more humane, even though it may result in lower meat quality,” Mr. Sun told the Times.

The Chinese have already published welfare recommendations for pigs, cattle and sheep. Pigs, for example, must rest for 12 hours before they’re transported to be slaughtered. The fee for noncompliance is $7,500.

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