Each company must have a documented monitoring programme in place for wing and leg injuries. The purpose of the programme is to ensure reviewable measures are in place and actions are taken where wing and leg injuries are identified as a result of improper handling by equipment and/or personnel. If the limits are exceeded, employees’ methods must be reviewed and where appropriate must be retrained.
If both wings are broken or dislocated or both legs are injured on one bid, this counts as one bird for auditing purposes.
Broken or dislocated wings must be monitored immediately either before or after the stunner. If these locations are not accessible, birds can also be evaluated prior to the scalder. The goal is to have less than 3% of birds out of a 500-bird sample with broken or dislocated wings, i.e. 14 out of 500 birds. Corrective action must be initiated if the level exceeds 4% (20 out of 500 birds).
Leg injuries must be monitored after scalding and plucking. Leg injuries may involve leg breaks, trauma-induced fractures or severe haematomas. The goal is to have less than 0.4% of birds from a 500-bird sample with leg injuries, i.e. 2 out of 500 birds. Corrective action must be initiated if the level exceeds 0.6% (3 out of 500 birds).
For any stunning system that involves stunning and/or killing prior to shackling, wing injury assessment can be performed on live birds prior to killing. If using Controlled Atmospheric Stunning (CAS), Controlled Atmospheric Killing (CAK), or Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning (LAPS), it is recommended that a sample of 500 birds be evaluated for conformance to the criteria outlined above for wing breakage and leg injury.
Adapted from: USA National Chicken Council, Comprehensive Broiler Welfare Guideline, April 2014.