Meat quality and animal welfare: Religious and scientific perspectives
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Woodhead Publishing
Abstract
Farm animal welfare entails ensuring the well-being of the individual animal by
preventing unnecessary animal suffering, ensuring a good quality of life and a humane
death (Gregory, 1998; Grandin, 2010a,b). Animal welfare is only applicable to living
animals because dead animals cannot suffer. Nonetheless, the manner, circumstance,
and reason for animal death are subject to welfare concerns and could affect meat
quality (Gregory, 2005; Anil, 2012). Slaughtering is regulated by strict policies, animal
welfare, working conditions, and food hygiene and safety (Gregory, 1998;
Farouk, 2013). The suitability of the commonly used methods is dependent on religious
ideology, livestock species, consumer demands, the availability of facilities,
and economic considerations (Anil, 2012; Farouk et al., 2014). Slaughter techniques,
if not effectively and efficiently applied, could compromise animal welfare and operators’
safety and can hinder meat quality and safety (Gregory, 1998; Farouk et al.,
2014). Current slaughter methods are broadly categorized into two, namely conventional
and religious slaughtering techniques. Conventional slaughter involves the
application of stunning (electrical, gas, and mechanical) prior to neck, while religious
slaughter involves the killing of animals by neck cut using a sharp knife in accordance
to religious prescriptions (Anil, 2012; Farouk, 2013). Regardless of slaughter method,
consumers generally demand for conventional meat quality attributes (Farouk et al.,
2014; Sabow et al., 2016). Nonetheless, in addition to conventional quality, spiritual
quality is important for those who consume meat from religiously slaughtered animals
(Farouk et al., 2014). When applied correctly, stunning improves animal welfare
(Gregory, 1998; Anil, 2012). However, stunning could have adverse effects on carcass
and meat quality and could pose public health concerns
Description
Keywords
Meat quality, Animal welfare, Religious and scientific perspectives
Citation
Sazili, A. Q., Adeyemi, K. D., Sabow, A. B., & Nakyinsige, K. (2018). Meat quality and animal welfare: Religious and scientific perspectives. In Preparation and Processing of Religious and Cultural Foods (pp. 359-375). Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101892-7.00019-5