NVWA employees criticize mobile slaughterhouse

Several employees of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) have strongly criticized mobile slaughterhouses. In the Northern Netherlands, a trial has been running since 2019 in which livestock farmers can have their injured and lame cows slaughtered at home, but according to the regulator, this solution misses the mark.

Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) approved the trial in 2018, because injured animals can still be slaughtered. According to the employees of the NVWA, however, mainly chronically lame animals are slaughtered, and hardly any cows that have suffered an injury (such as a broken leg).

Animal welfare under pressure
Various NVWA employees, who are participating in the pilot, report that the regulations are being circumvented by means of these mobile slaughterhouses. According to the employees, the NVWA undermines its own authority; it mainly bothers them that farmers can earn money from the sick and lame animals.

A veterinarian of the NVWA reports to RTL Nieuws: "The cattle sometimes cannot even stand. Via the so-called 'mobile slaughterhouse' you encourage livestock farmers not to treat their livestock, which means that animals suffer unnecessarily long." Another employee states that animals slaughtered by mobile slaughterhouses are 'at risk' animals. This is because these cattle are sick or injured during slaughter.

There is also internal disagreement about the trial at the Royal Dutch Society for Veterinary Medicine (KNMvD): "The use of the mobile slaughterhouse should not lead to animals being deprived of necessary care", they believe. 

Dokkum parries criticism
According to the spokesperson for the Dokkum slaughterhouse, which operate a mobile slaughterhouse, the NVWA employees' concerns are unjustified. The company points out that all farmers themselves are responsible for animal welfare on their farm. The slaughterhouse's experience also shows that livestock farmers do everything they can to get an animal healthy and keep it on the farm. Slaughterhouse Dokkum has also filed a complaint against 4 employees of the NVWA for defamation.

This week, the pilot will be evaluated by all those involved, including the ministry and the NVWA. It is then also decided whether the mobile slaughterhouse may remain or be removed from the road. 

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