In its final hours before being butchered, a chicken deserves to be reasonably comfortable and relatively¹ stress-free. This is the message from China’s first official recommendations to the poultry² industry, recently issued by Shandong Province, on how to slaughter³ the animals.

被宰杀前的最后几个小时里，一只鸡应当过得足够舒适且相对轻松。这是中国第一份针对肉鸡屠宰问题的官方指导规范所传递出的信息。该规范近期由山东省出台，

The guidelines, which are not mandatory⁴, are motivated at least as much by commercial considerations as by concerns for animal welfare. Shandong is China’s leading producer of chickens, but traces of damage to the birds, like broken limbs or blood clots⁵ in the meat, have hurt exports.

这些指导方针并不具有强制性，其背后的商业考虑至少和对动物福利的关注相当。山东是中国最大的鸡肉生产地，但腿翅折断或肉中有血块等显示鸡受伤的迹象，已经影响了出口。

Still, animal welfare advocates are praising the standards.

倡导动物福利的人士依然对这些标准表示赞赏。

“Such specific guidelines,” said Jeff Zhou, China representative of Compassion⁶ in World Farming, a British organization that campaigns to end factory farming. “I’m very grateful that they did this in Shandong.”

世界农场动物福利协会的中国区代表周尊国说：“规定非常细化。我很感谢山东出台了这样的标准。”该协会是一家致力于终结工厂化饲养的英国机构。

The guidelines, according to People’s Daily, list the steps leading to slaughter and detail for each the recommended procedures to ensure that the chicken’s death is as painless as possible.

据《人民日报》报道，山东的屠宰规范列出了宰杀前的步骤，并详细说明了每个步骤中推荐采取的处理方法，以确保鸡在被宰杀时尽可能没有痛苦。

For example, the guidelines advise against transporting a live chicken longer than three hours. A chicken should be held with both hands, not seized by a single leg or wing. Before being killed, the bird should be anesthetized by being gassed or having its head dipped into electrified⁷ water. The guidelines also recommend using a massaging⁸ pad to support the chicken’s breast as the birds are moved on an assembly line to be stunned¹⁰.

比如，指导规范建议活鸡的运输时间不超过三小时；抓住鸡时要用两只手，不能仅逮着一只腿或翅膀；宰鸡前，应当利用气体或将其头部浸入通电的水中，使其失去知觉。规范还建议鸡经过流水线“致昏”时，要安装抚摸板对其胸部进行支撑。

Humane¹¹ slaughter alone does not remove all the cruelty that animals in intensive factory farming experience, Mr. Zhou said, but the guidelines address an important part of it. “It’s a step in the right direction,” he said.

周尊国表示，仅靠人道宰杀并不能消除工厂化集中饲养的动物要经历的所有虐待，但指导方针应对了其中一个重要方面。他说：“这是正确的一步。”

The organization is working with its Chinese partners, including the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare, a government-backed research institute, to push for more humane practices in China and has released similar recommendations for raising, shipping¹² and slaughtering¹³ pigs, cattle and sheep.

世界农场动物福利协会正与中国机构进行合作，包括政府支持的研究机构——动物福利国际合作委员会，推动在中国采取更人道的做法。该组织还针对猪、牛、羊的饲养、运输和宰杀发布了类似的建议规范。

Although the Shandong guidelines are China’s first for the slaughter of chickens, procedures to reduce animal suffering as well as improve meat quality are being practiced elsewhere and for other farm animals. Major slaughterhouses in Beijing, for example, already stun⁹ chickens by dipping their heads into electrified water, according to The Beijing News.

尽管山东的指导规范是中国首次针对肉鸡宰杀出台相关建议，但在中国其他地方，面向其他家禽，已经实施了用以减少动物痛苦并改善肉质的规程。比如，据《新京报》报道，北京的主要屠宰场已经采取了将鸡的头部浸入通电的水中致晕的方式。

The city of Zhengzhou, the provincial¹⁴ capital of Henan, requires slaughterhouses to allow pigs to rest at least 12 hours after being transported to the slaughterhouse before they are killed, according to a 2010 report in Dahe, a local newspaper. Violations¹⁵ carry a penalty of up to 50,000 renminbi, or about $7,500.

地方报纸《大河报》2010年的一篇报道称，河南省会郑州要求猪被运到屠宰场后，在宰杀前至少能休息12个小时。违反规定者最高可面临5万人民币罚款（约7500美元）。

As more slaughterhouses adopt procedures for the humane handling of livestock¹⁶, Chinese meat may find greater acceptance in high-end markets at home and abroad, said Sun Jingxin, a food science professor at Qingdao Agricultural University and the author of the Shandong guidelines.

青岛农业大学食品科学教授孙京新主持制定了山东这份指导规范。他表示，随着更多屠宰场采用人道的牲畜处理方式，中国的肉类产品可能在国内外高端市场获得更多认可。

With an eye to European consumers concerned about animal welfare, Mr. Sun said of preferred methods for stunning¹⁷ the chickens, “we adopted the high-voltage system used in the EU, instead of the US-style low-voltage treatment.”

针对关心动物福利的欧洲消费者，孙京新谈及了首选的致晕方式：“我们推荐欧盟的高压电致晕而不是美国的低压处理方法。”

“The EU way is considered more humane, even though it may result in lower meat quality,” Mr. Sun said in an interview.

孙京新在采访中说道：“欧盟的方式更为人道，尽管可能肉质不如低压致晕。”

China is the world’s second-leading producer of broiler meat, after the United States, producing 13.4 million tons last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. But it ranked only fifth in exports, with 401,000 tons that year.

美国农业部的数据显示，中国是世界第二大鸡肉生产国，仅排在美国之后。去年，中国的鸡肉产量是1340万吨，但出口量仅为40.1万吨，名列第五。