It is important to minimise the stress that the animals might experience during the journey from the farm to the abattoir. This is vital to the welfare of the animal, and to the quality of the meat it produces which can be negatively affected if the animals is exposed to unnecessary stress shortly before the slaughtering process begins. Compliance with the following guidelines is therefore essential:

• humane handling of the animal, especially during loading and unloading. At Micarna, only the owners or professional drivers who regularly attend special ‘animal welfare during transport’ courses are permitted to deliver the animals to our facilities.
• short journeys. In contrast to the EU, Swiss legislation stipulates a maximum transport time of 8 hours, of which no more than 6 hours are spent actually ‘on the road’. However, according to the data we collected for our sustainability strategy, the actual journey times for cattle, pigs and lambs were significantly shorter. For example, in 2021, 99% of our chickens reached Swiss abattoirs in less than 4 hours. For parent animals which were slaughtered in France, the journey was less than the legal maximum of 6 hours.
• use of appropriate vehicles. The lorry or trailer must not have any hazards that could cause the animals to injure themselves. The temperature and air quality must be adapted to the animals’ needs, and the floor must be covered with appropriate bedding and provide the animals with adequate grip. All animals must have sufficient space in the vehicle (the legal specifications vary depending on species and weight class). Pigs should be kept in groups of familiar or acquainted animals. In addition to monitoring by the cantonal authorities, the transport of labelled animals is also subject to indepedent checks by Swiss Animal Protection.

Before the animals are slaughtered, it is important that they have enough time to recover from their journey. Our pig abattoir has an unloading quay and temporary holding pens where the animals can relax thanks to dim lighting, classical music, permanent access to water and a shower to cool off. For our chickens, the process involves gently unloading them from the lorry and exposing them to blue light which has a calming effect on them.

In Switzerland it is prohibited to slaughter animals without professional anaesthetisation. The anaesthetisation methods vary from animal to animal, and are strictly regulated. Chickens, for example, are stunned by means of an electrical water bath. Pigs are exposed to C02, while our cooperation partners use a bolt gun to stun cattle, calves and lambs. The animals therefore die by bleeding out while they are unconscious. We are the first company in Switzerland to install an automated system in our pig abattoir that monitors the animals’ blood loss to ensure that the slaughter process runs as it should.

All employees who work with live animals regularly attend training courses on how to handle them calmly and humanely. In addition to the exacting inspections by in-house teams and the cantonal veterinary offices, our abattoirs and those of our partners are subject to regular audits by Swiss Animal Protection to ensure that the slaughtering process is animal welfare-compliant. We also have taken the initiative to install video cameras in our pig abattoir to monitor the animals, from their arrival on site to the bleeding out process. In doing so, we provide authorised stakeholders the opportunity to access transparent information for the entire meat value chain.

Our mission goes beyond slaughter transparency. We are also committed to making the slaughter process as humane as it possibly can be. We work closely with research partners to find alternative poultry stunning methods and to optimize the existing pig stunning system. We regularly report to an external sounding board on the state of our research. This board is made up of representatives from the relevant authorities as well as from consumer and animal protection organisations.