Three electrical circuits were utilized to stun male broilers prior to the slaughter process. Before and after stunning, four physiological variables were measured: blood pressure, brain waves, and heart and respiratory rates. Based upon maximal bleed-out, the circuits were rated in the following order (maximal to minimal percent bleed-out): high frequency (HF), alternating current (AC), and direct current (DC). An attempt was made to correlate maximal bleed-out with the rate of change in heart rate and blood pressure following stunning for each electrical circuit. No correlation was found. It is suggested that the distribution of blood after stunning may be a more significant factor than the effect of a stun on heart rate and blood pressure. Perhaps both the high frequency and AC circuits effect better bleed-out by shunting more blood from peripheral regions to the viscera. Data suggest that the current industry practice of allowing a 10-15 sec. time interval between stunning and the severance of neck blood vessels is a reasonable one, in that it allows heart rate to return to normal levels prior to venesection.Brain waves were monitored before and after electrical stunning. In addition, simple sensory stimuli tests were conducted in an attempt to ascertain the humaneness of the slaughter process. The sharp decrease in brain activity following stunning and lack of response by broilers to painful stimuli suggest that it is a humane practice to electrically stun broilers as the initial step of processing poultry.
An electrical stunner, designed such that both frequency and voltage could be varied independently, was tested to determine which combination of voltage and frequency resulted in a stun which maximized bleed-out in broilers. Frequencies and peak voltages tested were, respectively, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480, and 960 Hertz (Hz, cycles per sec), and 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100V. The combination which resulted in best blood release was a peak voltage of lOOv, average voltage of 30v, and a frequency of 480 Hz. The variable frequency stunner was compared to an AC stunner (60 Hz, 50v) for maximizing bleed-out in male broilers. No significant difference was found between the two circuits.Two bleed-out time intervals were tested using three electrical circuits: AC, DC, and variable frequency. Approximately twice as much blood was collected during the additional 30 sec time interval when the DC circuit was employed. It is suggested that processing plants using DC stunners increase bleed-out time from the standard 60 sec to at least 90 sec before the broilers enter a scalder.The electrical cost of operating three electrical circuits for stunning poultry was evaluated. The AC circuit (60 Hz) was most efficient and the DC circuit least efficient in terms of electrical energy used to stun a given broiler. The variable frequency stunner ranked second.
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