HC Deb 01 April 1946 vol 421 cc130-1W
121. Mr. Peter Freeman

asked the Minister of Food how many pigs were killed last year by the use of a captive bolt and how many by having their throats cut for people of Jewish faith; and whether he has any information as to how pigs were killed on private farms outside a five-mile radius of an abattoir, where neither of these forms are necessarily practised and the number of pigs so killed.

Dr. Summerskill:

The provisions of the Slaughter of Animals Act, 1933, with regard to the humane slaughter of animals are complied with at slaughterhouses operated by the Ministry, but my right hon. Friend is unable to say how many pigs were killed by the use of captive bolt and how many by other approved methods. No pigs were killed for people of the Jewish faith by having their throats cut. My right hon. Friend has no information as to the method of slaughter adopted by persons who obtain licences to slaughter pigs for their own consumption, and whose premises are more than five miles from an abattoir, or as to the number of pigs slaughtered on such premises.