Welfare of horses at slaughter

Disclaimer

This Plain Language Summary (PLS) is a simplified communication of EFSA's Welfare of horses at slaughter. The full scientific report can be found here.

The purpose of the PLS is to enhance transparency and inform interested parties on EFSA’s work on the topic using simplified language to present a summary of the main findings.

Background to the scientific opinion

• To protect animals during slaughter, the EU adopted Council Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2009 ‘on the protection of animals at the time of killing’. This regulation was based on EFSA scientific opinions issued in 2004 and 2006. EFSA also provided opinions on this topic in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
• The current opinion reviews the latest scientific research on slaughtering horses for human consumption. It looks at both slaughterhouse and on-farm slaughter and updates previous advice from EFSA.

What was EFSA asked to do?

The European Commission asked EFSA to provide an independent review of horse slaughter processes and their welfare impact, focusing on:

• identifying potential welfare hazards and their causes, such as facility conditions, equipment and staff practices;
• defining ways to measure animal welfare (’animal-based measures’);
• suggesting ways to prevent and address identified hazards, including facility and management changes;
• identifying specific hazards related to different horse breeds;
• identifying unacceptable slaughter methods or practices and analysing their impact on animal welfare.

How did EFSA carry out this work?

• To assess horse welfare during slaughter, EFSA reviewed the scientific literature, used expert knowledge elicitation, and consulted other reliable information sources.
• Final recommendations were developed from expert discussions and findings from the literature.

What were the outcomes and their implications?

The welfare consequences resulting from the hazards identified in each slaughter phase included:

• Pre-stunning:
  • Arrival at the slaughterhouse: gastro-enteric disorders (ulcers), heat stress, injuries, prolonged hunger, prolonged thirst, breathing problems, resting problems, restriction of movement and sensory overstimulation;
  • Unloading: handling stress, heat stress, injuries, restriction of movement and sensory overstimulation;
  • Lairage (holding): group stress, heat stress, injuries, prolonged hunger, prolonged thirst, resting problems, restriction of movement, sensory overstimulation and separation stress;
  • Handling and moving to the stunning area: handling stress, injuries, restriction of movement, sensory overstimulation and separation stress;
  • Restraining: injuries, restriction of movement and sensory overstimulation.
• Stunning and bleeding: injuries, pain, fear (e.g. due to mis-stunning or recovery of consciousness).

What were the uncertainties?

The main sources of uncertainty relate to:

• High variability between practices: Slaughterhouse practices vary greatly across different parts of the world. This means that findings from one specific study may not apply to other slaughterhouses, regions or countries.
• Study design limitations: Many existing studies are small-scale, cross-sectional (snapshot information) and have not fully accounted for all the potential factors that could influence the results. Additionally, the methods used to collect and analyse data often vary, making it difficult to compare findings across studies.
• Uncertainty in conclusions: The level of certainty of key findings that could potentially influence regulations was carefully evaluated.

What are the key recommendations?

Key recommendations to enhance animal welfare and reduce hazards during slaughter for policymakers and food businesses, such as slaughterhouses, are:

• Pre-stunning:

  Arrival at the slaughterhouse: 

  • Heat stress: Maintain the vehicle interior temperature below 25 °C. If horses display signs of heat stress, take immediate mitigating measures, such as parking in the shade, improving ventilation or providing water if available.
  • Overcrowding: Prevent overcrowding by ensuring a stocking density of no more than 200 kg/m² for group transport and maintain a clearance of at least 40 cm on body side and length for individual transport. Provide a minimum vertical space of 75 cm from the withers (the highest part of a horse's back) to the deck. In overcrowded conditions, immediately unload and slaughter the animals or provide adequate space in the lairage.

  Unloading:

  • Safety: Use unloading ramps with gentle slopes (<20°) with non-slip surfaces (e.g. providing foot battens, straw, sand or sawdust). Install side barriers.
  • Stress reduction: Employ skilled horse handlers trained in horse behaviour.

  Lairage (holding):

  • Space and comfort: Maintain a maximum animal density of 110 kg/m² for collective pens. Individual pens should provide at least 40 cm of space on each side and be 40 cm longer than the horse’s body. The ceiling height should be at least 2.7 m. Maintain the temperature below 25 °C, ensure good ventilation and provide drinking water. For stays of more than 12 hours, provide feed and suitable bedding.
  • Social well-being: Avoid mixing unfamiliar horses. Keep familiar groups together or house the horses individually. Separate stallions and keep mares with foals.

  Handling and moving to the stunning area:

  • Space: Ensure the passageways are at least 80 cm wide for average-sized horses.
  • Social well-being: Move handled horses individually with a halter and rope or in small, familiar groups, ensuring they can always see each other. Move semi-feral or unhandled horses in small groups or pairs.
  • Stress reduction: Avoid painful or frightening methods like electric goads, sticks or shouting.

  Restraining:

  • Timing: Only restrain horses when the operator is ready to stun them immediately.
  • Safety and comfort: Use appropriately sized stun boxes with clean, dry floors.
• Stunning
  • Effective stunning: Use a penetrative captive bolt with a minimum diameter of 9 mm, a minimum length of 8 cm and a speed of at least 55 m/s. (More research is needed to validate these parameters for all horse breeds.) Target the bolt 1 cm above the  intersection of a diagonal line from the eye to the opposite ear base, directing the bolt towards the brainstem. The penetrative captive bolt is the most widely used stunning method. The assessed methods were all mechanical (penetrative captive bolt and firearms).
  • Monitoring: The process can continue to the next stage only when signs of unconsciousness are observed. If signs of consciousness are observed, initiate immediate re-stunning or apply a back-up method so the process can continue to the next stage. Use Figure 1 as a reference to monitor the state of consciousness during three key stages of the process (between stunning and shackling, during neck cutting or sticking, and during bleeding).

• Bleeding:
  • Efficient killing: Ensure the operators are well-trained and use long, sharp knives.
  • Minimising suffering: Minimise the stun-to-stick interval and ensure it is under 60 seconds.
  • Confirmation of death: Confirm death before carcass processing.
• Unacceptable practices:
  • Avoid highly painful practices (e.g. spinal cord severing or use of electric goads).

Glossary

Apnoea: Temporary cessation of breathing. 

Corneal reflex: The automatic blink reflex or eyelid reflex when something touches or gets close to the eye.

Palpebral reflex: An unconscious reflex that causes the eyes to move upward when they are closed or threatened. 

Tonic seizure: A sudden stiffness or tension in the muscles of the legs or trunk.

Nystagmus: Involuntary, repetitive or rhythmic movement of the eyes. 

Reference

Welfare of horses at slaughter
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9178