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Cerebrus Associates has recently assisted ICF to gather evidence to support potential initiatives concerning animal welfare labelling in the European Union. The study has involved collecting and analysing qualitative and quantitative data on consumers’ awareness of animal welfare standards and demand for further information. It has also involved gathering data on existing labelling schemes with animal welfare claims found in the EU and assessing their designs and impacts. The work was commissioned by the European Commission (Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, DG SANTE).

The ways in which chickens are caught can cause injuries and millions of chickens arrive dead at the slaughterhouse each year (dead-on-arrival [DOA]: 0.1% to 0.6%).

We conducted a systematic review to better understand the welfare impacts of various catching methods for laying hens and broiler chickens. Papers were screened against clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-two papers met the criteria and were included, grouped around three themes. Each paper was assessed for the risk of possible bias in six domains (no randomization, no blinding of assessors or data analysts, not reporting missing data, selective reporting, or other types of bias) and three levels (low risk; some concerns; high risk), as well as an overall bias judgement.