The Netherlands cannot currently require slaughterhouses to reduce their slaughter speed. To impose such a requirement, the Animal Welfare Act must first be amended. If necessary, this could be addressed at the EU level, writes Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten to the House of Representatives.
The minister announced a reduction in slaughter speed following a study on working conditions in Dutch slaughterhouses and similar reports from Germany. The House of Representatives also requested this, both in terms of animal welfare and in relation to the COVID-19 hotspots that emerged in slaughterhouses.
For this reason, she is now commissioning research into the relationship between animal welfare, food safety, and slaughter speed. The minister's intention is that opportunities will then arise to adjust the speed.
At present, slowing down the slaughter speed is only possible as a temporary measure if the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) discovers abuses in a slaughterhouse. Such measures are always preceded by warnings.
Minister Schouten has asked slaughterhouses to submit a plan within three months outlining how they will guarantee animal welfare during the slaughter process.
Minister Schouten also reported in a letter to the House of Representatives that the European Union has relaxed the criteria for deploying mobile slaughterhouses. According to Schouten, this indicates that the European Commission explicitly intends to provide room for initiatives like the Mobile Killing Unit. This means the structural use of the mobile slaughter system in the Netherlands will become possible.
To make the deployment of the Mobile Killing Unit practically feasible, Schouten wishes to have the flexibility to transport a few animals per shipment, as in the Dutch pilot. On this point, the minister is cooperating with Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In these countries, there is broad support for this method of slaughter.