Animal rights advocates yesterday called on the government to take steps toward ensuring more humane treatment for pigs.
Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said that since 1981 more than NT$2 billion (US$65 million) has been spent on the implementation of quality certification marks for pork products, but swine are still treated inhumanely before, during and after slaughter.
The government has established various certification systems, such as Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), that ensure the quality of pork and assure consumers of acceptable slaughter practices, Chen told a press conference, however, most pigs were still conscious when they were slaughtered, breaching the government’s guidelines that pigs be electrically stunned prior to their death.
“The pigs are hung upside down while fully conscious and then have their throats slit,” Chen said, adding that in addition to inhumane slaughter practices, the pigs also suffer several other torturous procedures.
Pigs are still sold at live auctions, where they are whipped and corralled, she said, adding that none of the certifications require humane treatment of pigs during transport, herding, unloading, tethering or stunning.
“Even traditional open-air farmers’ markets have CAS-approved pork,” she said. “This is impossible because CAS stipulates that the pork must be properly refrigerated. At these stands, the pork is not refrigerated and usually delivered before the vendors arrive, leading to contamination by rats and unsanitary conditions.”
The transportation of the pork also lacks the required refrigeration for CAS approval, she said.
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