Automated monitoring of pig and chicken welfare at the slaughterhouse – tracing back to farm, transport and slaughter

The EU aWISH project focuses on automated monitoring of animal-based indicators at slaughterhouses for documenting the welfare of broilers and pigs during each phase of production (farm/transport/slaughter). The project
is centered around six European pilots – a slaughterhouse with a local research partner, associated farms and
technology providers – where technologies are developed and validated. Pig pilots are located in Austria, the
Netherlands, Serbia and Spain, broiler pilots in France and Poland. Eighteen technologies measure various indicators for pigs (ear lesions, skin lesions, tail length, tail lesions, blood parameters, stress vocalisation, tear staining,
stunning effectiveness, environmental parameters, body weight, lung lesions, liver lesions, food consumption,
meat quality) and broilers (hock burn, footpad lesions, catching damage, back scratches, stress vocalisations,
activity, stunning effectiveness, environmental parameters, on-farm welfare assessment). Technologies are mainly
installed in the slaughterhouse, some on-farm or on-truck, and some require human observations. An overview
will be given of the installation of technologies, their status of development and which animal welfare aspect
they are measuring. Via a data platform and online user interface, feedback on relevant individual and aggregated
indicator scores is provided to those responsible per production phase. Data will also be used to document animal
welfare improvements and their socio-economic and environmental impacts. This project will make a significant
contribution to the objective assessment and improvement of pig and broiler welfare throughout Europe.