Kulmbach (dpa / lby) - In the Kulmbach slaughterhouse, trial operation of a controversial helium stunning system is to begin in January 2023. This emerges from a Christmas letter that Kulmbach's mayor Ingo Lehmann and slaughterhouse manager Dirk Grühn sent to the media on Thursday. Stunning cattle for slaughter with helium gas is said to be more animal-friendly and environmentally friendly than the carbon dioxide process previously used.
When the new facility can go into regular operation depends, among other things, on the availability of helium. There is sufficient gas for trial operation, but not for regular operation. According to the information, this is the first system of this type in the world. It was developed by meat researchers in Kulmbach together with the Bernd Tönnies Foundation. The comparatively expensive helium is to be used sparingly via a recovery circuit so that the costs can be kept in check.
Animal rights activists generally welcome helium stunning as more animal-friendly, but doubt its feasibility. Helium is hardly suitable because of its high price, there is a risk that the slaughterhouses will fall back on conventional slaughtering methods, such as electrical stunning, for cost reasons.
"Give us a chance to complete the planned prototype and then use concrete experiences from test runs to discuss whether we are on the right track, whether there are alternatives, and also what a reliable cost calculation looks like and whether it will affect the price of meat ", Lehmann and Grühn continue.
