[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 26, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-10035]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: April 26, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service

9 CFR Part 313

[Docket No. 91-035F]
RIN 0583-AB54

 

Use of Carbon Dioxide in the Humane Slaughter of Swine

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: FSIS is amending the Federal meat inspection regulations to 
permit the use of carbon dioxide to induce death in swine. The 
amendment, prompted by a petition from the Danish and Swedish Meat 
Research Institute, is based on scientific research showing the use of 
carbon dioxide to induce death in swine to be an effective and humane 
slaughtering method.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 26, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. William O. James, Director, 
Slaughter Inspection Standards and Procedures Division, room 202 Annex 
Building, FSIS, USDA, 300 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700, 
(202) 720-3219.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Order 12866

    This final rule has been determined to be not-significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866 and therefore has not been reviewed 
by the Office of Management and Budget.

Executive Order 12778

    This final rule has been reviewed pursuant to Executive Order 
12778, Civil Justice Reform. This final rule will permit swine to be 
humanely slaughtered in official meat-packing establishments through 
the administration of carbon dioxide.
    State and local jurisdictions are preempted under the Federal Meat 
Inspection Act (FMIA) from imposing any requirements with respect to 
federally inspected premises and facilities, and operations of such 
establishments, that are in addition to, or different than, those 
imposed under the FMIA. States and local jurisdictions are also 
preempted under the FMIA from imposing any marking, labeling, 
packaging, or ingredient requirements on federally inspected meat or 
meat food products that are in addition to, or different than, those 
imposed under the FMIA. States and local jurisdictions may, however, 
exercise concurrent jurisdiction over meat products that are outside 
official establishments for the purposes of preventing the distribution 
of meat products that are misbranded or adulterated under the FMIA or, 
in the case of imported articles, which are not at such an 
establishment, after their entry into the United States. States and 
local jurisdictions may also make requirements or take other actions 
that are consistent with the FMIA, with respect to any other matters 
regulated under the FMIA.
    Under the FMIA, States that maintain meat inspection programs must 
impose requirements on State-inspected products and establishments that 
are at least equal to those required under the FMIA. These States may, 
however, impose more stringent requirements on such State-inspected 
products and establishments.
    No retroactive effect will be given to this final rule, and 
applicable administrative procedures must be exhausted before any 
judicial challenge can be taken to the application of these provisions. 
Those administrative procedures are set forth in 9 CFR 306.5.

Effect on Small Entities

    The Administrator has determined that this final rule will not have 
a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities, as defined by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601).
    The use of the carbon dioxide (CO2) slaughtering methods is 
voluntary. FSIS is not aware of any domestic establishments that are 
currently planning to use this swine slaughtering method. Even if some 
establishments decide to use the method, there is no indication that a 
substantial number of establishments will. There will be no impact on 
entities other than establishments engaged in the slaughter of swine 
and the sale of swine carcasses and parts for human food. A significant 
investment will be required by large or small entities establishing 
CO2 slaughtering facilities. Inspection program experts estimate 
that an investment of $50,000 to $100,000 per slaughtering line would 
be necessary, depending on the size and complexity of the 
establishment. The decision to make this initial investment will be 
entirely up to the establishment, although this rule authorizing 
CO2 slaughtering of swine could be a factor in making the 
decision. This investment could be more than offset by a reduction in 
manpower required for restraining, stunning, and handling hogs after 
stunning.
    Further, the improvement in meat quality, which advocates of the 
CO2 process claim, could lead to a greater amount of saleable 
product. Because the hogs are much more relaxed when slaughtered with 
CO2 than they are when slaughtered by current methods, a number of 
desirable characteristics are imparted to the meat. The amount of pale, 
soft, exudative pork, considered undesirable by meat buyers, is reduced 
under the process, as well as blood spattering and broken bones. Also, 
less effort is expended on trimming and the removal of quality defects.
    No adverse competitive effects on small entities resulting from 
adoption of the rule are anticipated. Because the equipment needed for 
establishments to benefit from CO2 slaughtering is available in a 
range of prices, larger establishments choosing to use this method will 
not receive greater proportional advantages than smaller ones choosing 
to do the same. For the reasons discussed above, the rule will not have 
a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Paperwork Requirements

    This final rule imposes no new information collection requirements 
on official establishments or other members of the public. Under the 
rules for the use of carbon dioxide to anaesthetize animals before 
slaughter, establishments are required to sample gas for analysis from 
representative locations within the gas tunnels which convey the 
animals. Gas concentrations and exposure times are to be recorded 
throughout each day's operations. These records are subject to FSIS's 
standard records retention requirement at 9 CFR 320.3 and must be 
available to employees of the inspection service. These carbon dioxide 
monitoring requirements are continued under this final rule.

Background

    Under the Humane Slaughter Act (HSA) of 1958 (7 U.S.C. 1901-1906), 
as amended, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to designate 
humane methods of handling and slaughter of food animals. The HSA 
(section 2 (a) ) sets forth in number of methods of handling and 
slaughtering that have been found to be human, including the 
anaesthetization of animals by electrical or chemical means before they 
are shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut. These methods are 
available to slaughtering establishments under the FMIA (section 3; 21 
U.S.C. 603).
    FSIS was petitioned by the Danish and Swedish Meat Research 
Institute to amend the Federal meat inspection regulations to permit 
the use of CO2 for the purpose of inducing death in swine. The 
petitioners based their request on studies demonstrating the beneficial 
effects of this method on meat quality and the efficient handling of 
slaughter swine. Some Danish firms that export product to the Untied 
States are planning to install systems for slaughtering swine with 
CO2, and FSIS believes it may be potentially beneficial to U.S. 
industry to make generally available the option of this use of 
CO2.
    The use of CO2 gas for stunning has been permitted since the 
early 1900's and is permitted by the HSA. Animals to be anaesthetized 
by this method are placed on a conveyor and passed through tunnels 
filled with the gas. They are moved through the tunnels at such a slow 
rate that they are unconscious when they emerge. They are then 
shackled, hoisted, stuck, and bled out.
    In the last two decades, reports in the scientific literature have 
shown that the stunning of slaughter animals by the administration of 
CO2 gas is just as effective as electrical stunning. There is 
little or no difference between the two methods in the amount of stress 
inflicted on the animal. Whichever method is used, animals should be 
carefully handled before slaughter to reduce stress, and sticking 
(exsanguination) should take place as soon as possible after stunning 
to prevent a return to consciousness.
    With respect to the administration of CO2, it has been 
demonstrated that if the concentration of the gas in the tunnels is 
increased, death ensues. Other effects, including fewer injuries to the 
animals or establishment employees, have also been noted. Depending on 
the facilities and equipment used and the technique of administration, 
CO2 stunning of swine can yield meat that has improved color, 
carcasses with fewer broken bones and blood spots in the most desired 
cuts, less pale, soft, exudative pork, and higher boning and cutting 
yields.
    Studies have shown that the necessary conditions for death to take 
place are a 95-98 percent CO2 concentration and an exposure time 
of 3.5 minutes. The death-to-bleeding interval should be no longer than 
2 minutes to prevent pooling of blood in intestines and edible organs 
and no longer than 5 minutes to prevent the pooling of blood in muscle 
tissue.
    Under the FMIA, only those foreign establishments that have 
complied with inspection standards ``at least equal to'' those enforced 
domestically by the United States Government may export product to this 
country. An establishment in which slaughter methods are used that are 
prohibited by regulations under the FMIA is not eligible to export 
product to the United States. Without the change in the regulations 
effected by this final rule, an establishment using CO2 to induce 
death in swine would be unable to export pork products to the United 
States.

Comments on the Proposed Rule

    On September 10, 1993, FSIS published in the Federal Register (58 
FR 47673) a proposed rule to amend the Federal meat inspection 
regulations to allow official establishments to induce death in swine 
by the use of carbon dioxide. The Agency received two comments, one 
from an industry consultant, and one from a swine processor. Both 
commenters supported the proposed change in the regulations, citing 
research indicating the process is safe and humane. One of the 
commenters expressed the belief that use of the carbon dioxide 
slaughter process would encourage operators and suppliers to develop 
improved methods of handling and slaughtering swine.

Final Rule

    The Agency is, therefore, amending Sec. 313.5 of the Federal meat 
inspection regulations to remove the prohibition against the use of 
CO2 as a direct cause of asphyxiation or death in swine and 
provide for monitoring of the conditions under which slaughter by use 
of CO2 gas is administered. This amendment is consistent with the 
main purpose of the HSA, which is to render animals insensible to pain 
before slaughter. The change will not require swine to be asphyxiated 
by CO2 before bleeding, but will permit exposure to concentrations 
of the gas for a sufficient amount of time for death to occur. In 
addition, the requirement for a suitable exhaust system (9 CFR 313.5 
(b)(3)) has been amended to more accurately state the system's purpose, 
which is, in case of equipment breakdown, to prevent both nonuniform 
carbon dioxide concentrations in the gas tunnel and leakage of carbon 
dioxide gas into the ambient air of the establishment.

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 313

    Humane slaughter of livestock, Meat inspection.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 9 CFR part 313 of the 
Federal meat inspection regulations is amended as follows:

PART 313--HUMANE SLAUGHTER OF LIVESTOCK

    1. The authority citation for part 313 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1901-1906; 21 U.S.C. 601-695; 7 CFR 2.17, 
2.55.

    2. Paragraph (a)(1) of Sec. 313.5 is amended by adding a new last 
sentence; paragraphs (a)(3), (b)(1)(i), and the last sentence of 
paragraph (b)(3) are revised to read as follows:


Sec. 313.5  Chemical; carbon dioxide.

* * * * *
    (a)  * * *
    (1)  * * * In swine, carbon dioxide may be administered to induce 
death in the animals before they are shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, 
or cut.
    (2) * * *
    (3) On emerging from the carbon dioxide tunnel, the animals shall 
be in a state of surgical anaesthesia and shall remain in this 
condition throughout shackling, sticking, and bleeding, except for 
swine in which death has been induced by the administration of carbon 
dioxide. Asphyxia or death from any cause shall not be produced in 
animals before bleeding, except for swine in which death has been 
induced by the administration of carbon dioxide.
    (b) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (i) The carbon dioxide gas shall be administered in a tunnel which 
is designed to permit the effective exposure of the animal. Two types 
of tunnels, based on the same principle, are in common use for carbon 
dioxide anesthesia. They are the ``U'' type tunnel and the ``Straight 
Line'' type tunnel, and are based on the principle that carbon dioxide 
gas has a higher specific gravity than air. The tunnels are open at 
both ends for entry and exit of animals and have a depressed central 
section. Anesthetizing, or, in the case of swine, death-inducing, 
carbon dioxide concentrations are maintained in the central sections of 
the tunnels. Effective anaesthetization is produced in these central 
sections. Animals are driven from holding pens through pathways 
constructed of large-diameter pipe or smooth metal and onto continuous 
conveyor devices that move the animals through the tunnels. The animals 
are either compartmentalized on the conveyors by mechanical impellers 
synchronized with the conveyor or they are otherwise prevented from 
crowding. While impellers are used to compartmentalize the animals, 
mechanically or manually operated gates are used to move the animals 
onto the conveyors. Surgically anaesthetized animals, or killed swine, 
are moved out of the tunnels by the same continuous conveyors that 
moved them into and through the carbon dioxide gas.
    (2)  * * *
    (3)  * * * An exhaust system must be provided so that, in case of 
equipment failure, non-uniform carbon dioxide concentrations in the gas 
tunnel or contamination of the ambient air of the establishment will be 
prevented.
    Done at Washington, DC, on April 19, 1994.
Patricia Jensen,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Marketing and Inspection Services.
[FR Doc. 94-10035 Filed 4-25-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-M