Slaughterhouse operator fined for failure to adhere to welfare legislation

Today at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, District Judge King fined Shazan Foods Ltd (formerly 1Stop Halal Ltd) for 10 offences of failing to comply with standards set out in animal welfare legislation.

The offences related to incidents on six dates when, at the company’s slaughterhouse at Eye in Suffolk, the carotid arteries of chickens were not cut, or were cut inadequately, with the consequence that some birds entered scalding tanks alive without having first bled out. The company had failed to comply with requirements imposed by the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 and Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 on the Protection of Animals at the Time of Killing.

After considering the facts and the mitigation, the judge fined the company for each offence. Higher fines were applied for the instances in which there was identifiable pain, suffering or distress beyond the failure to sever the arteries; and the fines increased in value for the subsequent offences, on the basis of the company’s knowledge of the previous incidents.

In total, Shazan Foods Ltd was fined £16,400. Costs and a surcharge were payable additionally.

William Dean prosecuted the case, instructed by Simon Tunnicliffe and George Ward at the Crown Prosecution Service’s Mersey and Cheshire Fraud Unit.