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The benefits and societal importance of pig welfare in slaughterhouses a narrative review.

D. L. Schrøder-Petersen,S. Støier,C. Hansen

Published 2025 in Meat Science

ABSTRACT

This narrative review explores the benefits and societal importance of improving pig welfare in slaughterhouses. While investments in welfare-friendly practices are often viewed as costly, evidence suggests that these improvements yield benefits beyond direct financial returns (such as enhanced meat quality) including worker well-being and public trust. It has not been possible to put exact numbers on the direct economic benefits of good animal welfare as it is very dependent on the individual slaughterhouse and their business. A central theme of this review is how to ensure welfare-friendly stunning methods, and how to improve animal handling and welfare outcomes in slaughterhouses by the use of animal-based indicators and real-time monitoring technologies. This narrative review has shown that further research into the working environment, alternative stunning methods and AI-assisted monitoring of animal-based parameters will be essential for advancing welfare standards while maintaining industry competitiveness.

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