European Commission called on to label non-stun meat
The survey was carried out in July and August 2013, with 13,500 people over the age of 18 who purchase beef, lamb and poultry interviewed across 27 EU States. However, the report found a varying interest with 18% very interested, 27% quite interested and 27% a “little interested”.
John Blackwell, BVA president, said: “This EU-wide report confirms that consumers are interested in the provenance of their meat and meat products with a clear majority (72%) saying they are interested in receiving information about the stunning of animals.
“The long-awaited release of this report gives renewed vigour to the BVA’s campaign for better consumer information on animal welfare at slaughter and the need for meat from non-stun slaughter to be clearly labelled.”
The report also revealed that consumers had very little accurate understanding of the slaughter process and concluded that animal welfare was not considered a priority issue for them.
Blackwell added: “As the report states, EU consumers already expect certain standards to be adhered to. That means that there is already a high expectation that European standards on animal welfare will be applied to all products.
“Non-stun slaughter is only permitted through a derogation from EU-wide legislation so consumers expect their meat has been killed in accordance with the law, which clearly states that all animals should be stunned prior to slaughter to ensure their welfare is not compromised.”
