VION is one of the world's biggest producers of pig meat and has many slaughterhouses. Its main office in in the Netherlands as it is a Dutch-owned company. Eyes on Animals met with them to find out why they are not participating yet in the project of totally phasing out pig castration in the Netherlands. They explained that they would also like to stop castration but that 60-70% of their market is for export to countries they say "vehemently insist on pigs being castrated to avoid any risk at all of boar- tainted meat reaching their supermarket shelves". Germany is the main culprit, consuming large amounts of pig meat but, according to Vion, not willing to budge on the castration issue. Many other Dutch slaughterhouses, and one German one, are using professional "sniffers" that smell the meat to detect for boar taint before it leaves the plant. Vion says its foreign clients are not accepting this method (of using professional sniffers) as being adequate enough to guarantee no customers complaints. Funnily enough, the many slaughterhouses slaughtering intact boars and currently using professional sniffers have not encountered any problems yet and sound very positive about this change. Eyes on Animals seriously questions if all the fuss around boar taint is not exaggerated and based on irrational fear or non-motivation to change the logistics of the plants and industry.
Eyes on Animals -
22.04.2009 Meeting with VION
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Slaughterhouses
The lives of "farmed" animals, from fattening pig to breeding sow, and from veal-calf to dairy cow, end at the slaughterhouse. According to European law, animals must not endure unnecessary suffering when slaughtered. Sadly this is not always the case. Crippled animals are sometimes dragged or kicked towards the kill floor. Many are left to shiver in the winter on cold concrete floors for hours before being killed. At some plants the workers are not skilled or the equipment is faulty, leading to animals being improperly stunned and cut. Desensitized workers can be found hitting the animals and repeatedly using electric prods on sensitive areas. Slaughterhouses specializing in ritual slaughter (Halal and Kosher), do not stun the animals first and this causes additional pain. Eyes on Animals regularly visits slaughterhouses, unannounced and announced, to check on the condition of the animals arriving at the plant, how they are handled by staff workers, the quality of the installations and housing environment for the animals prior to slaughter, and the effectiveness of the stunning prior to slaughter. Eyes on Animals is in dialogue with the slaughterhouse about their observations and together with them tries to reach improvements to decrease animal suffering.
