Companies that have the INTERPORC Animal Welfare Spain (IAWS) certification have been voluntarily incorporating video surveillance cameras in slaughterhouses for years, so they are perfectly prepared for a measure that will soon become mandatory by law.
The announcement of the foreseeable immediate approval of the Royal Decree on Video Surveillance in Slaughterhouses by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is nothing more than the confirmation of the path of transparency undertaken years ago by pig farms, industries and slaughterhouses to respond to the demands of new consumers .
The Spanish pig sector is a world benchmark in animal welfare because it complies with European regulations, the strictest in animal welfare. In addition, it has voluntarily provided itself with the ‘Certified Welfare Commitment’ seal developed by the Interprofessional of the White Coat Pig (INTERPORC), which imposes even more demanding animal welfare conditions on companies than those contemplated by said regulations, which places the sector Spanish at the forefront in this matter.
Specific regulation
The IAWS technical regulation specifies that only “slaughter centers that have a continuous image recording system installed in the areas where live animals are found (unloading area, stables, pre-stunning, post-stunning and slaughter)” can be certified.
The objective is to be able to monitor aspects related to animal welfare and guarantee the existence of good practices. And it adds that said system must allow the storage of images for at least one month, and said images must be available to the official veterinary services.
The verification of compliance with these requirements is carried out by 14 independent certification entities accredited by ENAC that carry out audits under the specifications of the IAWS Technical Regulations.
