AUSTRALIA: Moves to implement stunning before report

A business relationship between an Australian and Indonesian company both intimately involved in the live export trade continues to make giant strides in efficiency improvements due to their decision to self-impose codes of practice in relation to animal welfare and other safety issues prior to the Government ban in June.

Warren Farr, the sales manager of Brisbane-based stunning equipment supplier Kentmaster Australia, says arrangements were already in place with its Indonesian agent, Pt. Agro Giri Perkasa (AGP), to introduce mandatory preslaughter stunning as a supply requirement well before the Federal Government suspended the trade for a month based on Indonesian abattoir cruelty allegations.

Mr Farr said a supply order for pneumatic non-penetrating stunners was lodged by their Indonesian agent months before the airing of animal cruelty on ABC Television which led to the devastating trade halt. He said the stunners were destined for several Indonesian abattoirs that process Australian cattle, not only to improve animal welfare but to help enhance productivity gains and improve worker safety.

"It was at the time recognised that the benefits to do so weren't just an animal welfare issue, but also encompassed other aspects such as slaughter floor/staff safety, animal handling, Halal, religious and cultural beliefs, lack of refrigeration facilities and meat quality," he said. "With the announcement of the Farmer report and the Government stating it will introduce all 14 recommendations, a number of interested parties in the supply chain (as stated in the media), are concerned that mandatory preslaughter stunning was not one of the recommendations, and believe that the Government needs to open discussion with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as soon as possible to have this introduced."

Mr Farr said he was heartened by a report in the September 29 edition of Queensland Country Life that highlighted the growing acceptance of preslaughter stunning within the Indonesian beef supply chain.

"Reporter Mark Phelps wrote that at the Z Beef abattoir in Lampung, the feedlot supplying it had made preslaughter stunning mandatory if they wish supply from the Juang Jaya feedlot (an AGC facility)," Mr Farr said. "The report went on to say that in conjunction with the stunner, a head bail was introduced to the Mark 1 restraining box as well as upgrades to the yards, and that these combined to improve worker safety.

"It also went on to state that the abattoir owner, Tampan Sujawadi, said the stunning process had significantly reduced the time required to process cattle.

"This process of a self-imposed code of conduct by forward thinking people and the benefits to worker safety, productivity improvement, animal welfare and meat quality improvement needs to be expanded into as many operations receiving Australian live stock as soon as possible, using Indonesia as the case study to allow the implementation of the recommendations from the Farmer report and the Government's implementation of them."

Mr Farr said abattoir owners needed to see that preslaughter stunning not only conformed to their religious and cultural beliefs, but offered business advantages. "It would therefore ensure sustainability of this important industry to Australia as well as the country receiving live animals," he said. OIE "needs to get on board and show all the abattoirs throughout the world that pre-slaughter stunning has many attributes, including animal welfare but not forgetting people safety".

As the onus has been placed on exporters of the live animals, to meet all the Government's needs, it would be better if the Australian Government and the MLA would come forward to purchase the stunners.

"They could then have them put in place in the countries Australia supplies, using qualified people to commission these as well as train the staff in whatever country it is, to a level of competency that meets OIE standards, which hopefully would include the need for mandatory pre-slaughter stunning."

Mr Farr said MLA came on board in September after the ban was lifted and a contractual agreement put in place to further enhance the program of supply, and operations of the stunner, staff training and certification for pre- and post-abattoir inspection and slaughter procedures. He said this involvement would continue with ongoing visits and training by Kentmaster's operations manager Scott Booth and representatives from MLA.

He said this also included the supply of more stunners in the future through AGP into Indonesian abattoirs. "AGP have already implemented ongoing maintenance and servicing of the equipment to ensure efficiencies," he said.