New poultry welfare rules for New South Wales abattoirs

All domestic abattoirs in the Australian state of New South Wales will have to implement new animal welfare legislation in 2013.
The new welfare package will ensure that the following measures are imposed as a condition of the abattoir’s license:

• All domestic abattoirs, by Jan. 1, 2013, are required to designate a trained animal welfare officer to be on the premises while processing is occurring. Only employees that have been trained in the relevant component of the MTM11 Australian Meat Industry Training Package will be eligible to be a designated animal welfare officer;
• All relevant employees are required to undertake training in the “stunning, sticking and shackling” component of the MTM11 Australian Meat Industry Training Package by July 1, 2013; and
• All New South Wales abattoirs are required to comply with the mandatory adoption of Section 2 of the “Industry Animal Welfare Standards for Livestock Processing Establishments preparing meat for human consumption,” 2nd edition.
“Under the new requirements, each abattoir will be required to designate an animal welfare officer to be present on the premises to monitor and take responsibility for the welfare of animals," said Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson. "Only employees that have undertaken specific animal welfare officer training will be eligible to be designated. The New South Wales government will also introduce an additional annual audit specifically focusing on animal welfare compliance and develop a sanctions policy to address any non-compliance with these requirements.”