UK’s Slaughterhouse Cameras

The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency and Department for Environmental, Food, and Rural Affairs are currently investigating the possibility of installing closed-circuit television cameras in all slaughterhouses in England, Scotland, and Wales to aid the enforcement of anti-animal-cruelty laws. In the UK, one in five slaughtering facilities for cows, pigs, goats, and sheep already has video surveillance, in addition to just under 30 percent of poultry facilities. A paper that will be presented at next week’s FSA board meeting discusses the issue in detail, including the estimated installation costs of cameras as well as the welfare issues driving the proposal. Activist group Animal Aid drew widespread attention to the issue last fall when it released undercover footage depicting cruelty at seven different slaughterhouses in England.