15
QS – Report 2012
Outlook 2013
Piglet castration without anaesthetics
to end in 2019
The common goal of the economic operators is to
dispense with piglet castration completely as soon
as possible (Düsseldorf declaration of 28 September
2008).
With the amendment to the animal welfare act
adopted in February, a legal ban on piglet castration
without anaesthetics is to come into force from 2019.
Among other things, the coordination platform for the
renunciation of piglet castration moderated by QS
agreed last year to prepare a
practical manual with
tips on the husbandry and feeding of entire male
pigs
.
It is intended to facilitate the first steps into
entire male production for farmers. The QS
Guideline
Slaughtering/Deboning
was supplemented on 1 July
2012
to include requirements for the identification
of carcasses with boar taint by means of the human
nose. Accordingly, businesses which slaughter entire
male pigs must establish procedures which enable
the reliable identification of tainted carcasses. Within
the QS scheme, male piglets may only be castrated
using analgesics since 2009.
Standard work instructions for animal
welfare officers
Since 2013, it has been checked during QS audits
in abattoirs if standard work instructions for animal
welfare officers are on hand. The responsibilities of
the animal welfare officer must be clearly defined in
these standard work instructions which are intended
to ensure that all animal welfare provisions are fully
implemented in a uniform manner. They focus on
the circumstances of the businesses and should be
prepared on the basis of risk, i.e. the animal welfare
officer has to look most closely where the risk of
deviation is greatest.
The animal welfare officer is responsible for
operative animal welfare before and during the
slaughtering process. He or she checks that staff
work correctly and that all anaesthetic equipment is
in perfect working order. Every abattoir must appoint
an animal welfare officer to check compliance with
animal welfare requirements during slaughtering.
This requirement, which has already applied to QS-
certified companies for more than ten years, has now
been embedded in the regulation on the protection
of animals at the time of killing (Regulation (EC) No.
1099/2009).