A B S T R A C T Animal welfare is an important pillar of sustainability in meat production and is associated with other aspects of this concept, such asanimal health, productivity, food safety, food quality and efficiency from a cost of production perspective. These interactions are presentatall stages of the production cyde, from the beginning of the animals farm life until their slaughter.On farm, some of the main welfare issues are related toneonatal mortality and low level of sensory input, which are likely to engender stereotypes and injurious behaviours, such as tail-biting Pre-slaughter handling refers to the interaction between humans and animals prior to and during transport and at slaughter. Strategies to reduce pre-slaughterstress will benefit carcass and meat quality,beingthe training of stockpeople one of the most cost-effective policies to improve animal welfare.These strategies include also the implementation of standard monitoring procedures to detect signs of consciousness after stunning before sticking and during bleeding until death occurs.