Meat+Poultry - June 2019 - 58

POULTRY PROCESSING TECH

This Bright Coop cage
is run through the CAS
system in five stages
where the amount of CO2
is gradually increased.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 06.19 | www.meatpoultry.com

IMPROVEMENT AND INNOVATION
Even as it has become an increasingly popular
alternative to electric stunning, there have
been refinements in CAS technology. "Poultry
processors were initially adopting CAS to
eliminate the live shackling of birds and
improve animal welfare at the processing
plant. The higher breast meat yield balanced
the return on investment. Now, with more
knowledge based on science and thorough
validations of the operational systems, the
priorities are shifting and just an improvement
for animal welfare is not sufficient. The focus
is now more on the risk for animal welfare and
product quality in the entire live bird handling,"
says Wouter Veerkamp, poultry processing
researcher for Amsterdam-based Meyn Food
Processing Technology.
Areas of improvement focus on solutions
to the need for adjustment based on flock
characteristics and weather conditions for

Humane-Aire

"It's very stressful hanging chickens on the line,
and you also have to make sure that people
aren't abusing chickens. Now, with controlled
atmosphere stunning, the birds come in the
travel container and stay in the container until
they are dead, so you have gotten rid of some
of the problems," Grandin says. "It's a much
better working environment for employees.
They don't have to work in the dark and they
don't have all of the feathers and flapping."
CAS, in the form of high-performance
systems like Humane-Aire, is being embraced
by more poultry processors as an alternative
to electrical stunning that works well and is
also in alignment with what today's foodservice
operators, retailers and consumers are
demanding, reports Terry Geertman, co-owner
of Midway Machine Technologies. "Both
chicken and turkey are doing well," he says,
noting that the company recently installed a
system in Canada in addition to CAS equipment
set up at Miller Poultry's facility in Indiana.
Adds Tim van Schaik, product manager for
Marel USA in Lenexa, Kansas: "We definitely
see a shift in priorities with regards to animal
well-being over the last years, especially with
customers who are connected and/or suppliers
to national foodservice brands as well as highend products such as organic or antibiotic-free
product. We feel that the general public, and
of course NGOs, are becoming more and more
aware of animal well-being."
Another movement propelling CAS is
broiler chicken welfare standards set by the

Global Animal Partnership (GAP), which have
a goal date of 2024 for implementation. General
Mills, for example, announced that by 2024, the
company will only use breeds accepted by GAP
or Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals (RSPCA) and processed using
multi-step-controlled atmosphere stunning.
While CAS is effective for birds and
meets animal welfare standards from various
customers, it also benefits processors. The
equipment can be relatively easily implemented
at the farm and/or plant without negatively
impacting line speeds.
Benefits extend to the poultry products as
well. "If you do it right, you don't have broken
wings and dark spots," Grandin remarks.
Geertman agrees. "It produces a more
consistent meat, along with a reduction of blood
in the meat and joints. But, in the electrical
stunning process birds are hung while conscious
and some birds get more stunning than others,
for example, so there can be meat and bone
damage from muscle contraction," he notes.
Humane-Aire is designed to be cost-efficient
for processors, which is another benefit.
"When we built it, it was important to us to
have the ability to handle operational costs.
We are able to do that and have a good return
on investment. The sustainability of those
systems is critical," Geertman says. "There is a
competitive edge for processors."

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Meat+Poultry - June 2019

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