Prevalence of Stunning Methods in Broiler Chicken Slaughter in the United States

Electrical stunning is the most commonly used method for pre-slaughter stunning of broiler chickens. Despite its widespread usage, this method has several negative welfare implications and low efficacy. More humane alternatives such as controlled atmosphere stunning or low-atmospheric pressure stunning are being adopted by slaughter plants worldwide. Using publicly available data, we estimate the prevalence of the various stunning methods employed in chicken slaughter in the United States. We found that in 2019, 92% of chicken slaughter used electrical stunning and 7% controlled atmosphere stunning, while 1% of chickens were slaughtered without stunning.

Read more in the full report