All Slaughterhouses in England Must Now Install Cameras

New rules enacted in England will require all slaughterhouses to install closed-circuit cameras in every area of the facilities by the end of the year. Footage obtained from these cameras can be accessed by industry watchdog group Food Standards Agency, and criminal charges could be brought should any facility be found in violation of animal-welfare standards. According to the BBC, slaughterhouses where chickens are bred for meat will be the first to install cameras, with those that breed egg-laying hens, pigs, dogs, and other animals to follow by the end of the year. The country’s Environmental Secretary Michael Gove explained this move as a way to show the rest of the world that England—which is in the midst of distinguishing itself from the rest of Europe post-Brexit—has the highest animal-welfare standards. Last year, a historic bill was passed in France that required its 263 slaughterhouses be equipped with cameras by 2018.