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Home > Farming Today > 10/12/22 Farming Today This Week; abattoirs and the challenges the sector faces.


	Podcast:		Farming Today
	Episode:		10/12/22 Farming Today This Week; abattoirs and the challenges the sector faces.
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:25:06
	Publish Date:		2022-12-10 07:00:00
	Description:		All week on Farming Today we've been looking at the state of the UK's abattoirs - from animal welfare to the challenges of finding staff. There are about 245 abattoirs in the UK, slaughtering millions of animals. Government figures for October this year show 173,000 cattle, 1.1 million sheep and 926, 000 pigs. There used to be many more abattoirs, but tighter regulations and economies of scale have seen consolidation. The future of small abattoirs has been a concern for many farmers for a number of years now. Farming Minister Mark Spencer has said he is actively looking at supporting smaller abattoirs, to keep them running. But it might not be in time to save some. We speak to a campaigner who's fighting to save the Tottingworth abattoir in Heathfield in East Sussex which is earmarked for closure in January. The Food Standards Agency says it's doing all it can to support small abattoirs by cutting red tape and reducing costs, but the CEO Emily Miles said they can't have a separate regulatory system for small abattoirs, even though they are only selling meat locally, because some by-products do end up in produce destined for export, and would need to comply with those standards. We visit a plant where Scottish salmon is slaughtered and processed, and speak to the Humane Slaughter Association about whether the stunning methods used in the slaughter of wild salmon, could be applied to fish caught at sea.
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