Animal welfare towards sustainability in pork meat production

• Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production.
• On farm, neonatal mortality and low level of sensory input are the main welfare issues.
• At slaughter, pre-slaughter handling and monitoring of stunning effectiveness are the main welfare issues.
• Strategies to improve welfare will benefit product meat and carcass quality.
• The training of stockpeople is one of the most cost-effective policies to improve animal welfare.

Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production and is associated with other aspects of this concept, such as animal health, productivity, food safety, food quality and efficiency from a cost of production perspective. These interactions are present at all stages of the production cycle, from the beginning of the animals' farm life until their slaughter. On farm, some of the main welfare issues are related to neonatal mortality and low level of sensory input, which are likely to engender stereotypes and injurious behaviours, such as tail-biting. Pre-slaughter handling refers to the interaction between humans and animals prior to and during transport and at slaughter. Strategies to reduce pre-slaughter stress will benefit carcass and meat quality, being the training of stockpeople one of the most cost-effective policies to improve animal welfare. These strategies include also the implementation of standard monitoring procedures to detect signs of consciousness after stunning, before sticking and during bleeding until death occurs.