The welfare of chicken in live poultry retail shops in Hong Kong wet markets 

Year: 2021

Ming Yi Tse 
City University of Hong Kong 

Supervisors: Lynnox Edviano Loo, Pui Yung Anna Lee, Yuk Yin Lai, Ling Yan Ruby Cheung, and Woon Shuen Chan  

HSA Student/Trainee Scholarship 2021

Live poultry retail shops are common in Southeast Asia. There are 1.3 million chickens reared annually in Hong Kong and with no poultry slaughterhouse, all are slaughtered in the 84 wet market live poultry retail stalls and 44 fresh provision shops. Six retail stalls were selected in this study for poultry welfare assessment in wet markets in terms of stocking conditions and slaughtering methods. Staff and consumers were also surveyed regarding their opinions on poultry welfare, training histories, and reasons for opting live poultry over other poultry forms, respectively. 

Temperature, light intensity, and noise intensity met the European Food Safety Authority guidelines and other studies for lairages in general. Water stations were not observed in all stalls, and none of the stalls had chickens stunned prior to bleeding. Also, red carcasses were observed, which may be evidence of birds being sent into scalding tanks alive.  No staff had received specific training on animal welfare. The consumers surveyed indicated that they chose live poultry mainly for taste. Consumers rated poultry welfare lower than staff on average, but most did not prefer to pay more for welfare improvement. To improve the situation, water provision and stunning before bleeding should be made mandatory, and legislation introduced to ensure mandatory staff training before handling animals in stalls.