The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has serious concerns about the welfare of poultry going to slaughter. This follows a recent ruling by the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb). The CBb rules that the way in which the NVWA acts against injuries in poultry is no longer sustainable. As a result, the NVWA is currently unable to enforce regulations, while millions of animals are still injured each year during capture.
Veterinarians from the NVWA check in slaughterhouses based on the color and size of bruises on the wings and body to determine if animals have been injured during capture and take action against it. The judge has now ruled that this method of assessment does not sufficiently prove that the injury occurred during capture. It could also have happened during transport or in the slaughterhouse. Because the judge ruled that it is unclear when the animal was injured, the NVWA cannot determine who should be fined for the violation.
Consequences of enforcement
The NVWA will thoroughly study the ruling and investigate what the implications are for our supervision. The NVWA is looking at what other methods are still possible for determining the moment of injury occurrence.
Lisette de Ruigh, director of Slaughter Supervision at the NVWA: “Despite the uncertainty about the moment of injury occurrence, it is a fact that the animals sustain this injury between the moment of imposition in the fattening farm and the moment the animals hang on the slaughter line. We hold the various chain partners responsible for this, and in our view, they are liable for it. We will engage in discussions with the chain partners, some of whom I know take this issue very seriously, about the situation that has arisen. We will continue to monitor injuries in slaughterhouses and will further consider the enforcement of this.”
Millions of animals suffer pain
Injured animals suffer severe pain during capture, during transport, and during actions in the slaughterhouse. The NVWA has made significant efforts in recent years to reduce injuries in poultry. Successfully. Strict enforcement and a chain that shows it is capable of handling the animals more carefully have led to a significant decrease in the number of animals with injuries.
In 2017, 27 percent of Dutch poultry flocks had capture injuries above the enforcement threshold. This has now dropped to just over 2 percent. “That is a nice result, also thanks to the efforts of some chain partners themselves. Despite the decrease, the number of animals with injuries at the slaughter line is still too high. We are still talking about millions of animals annually suffering pain,” says Lisette de Ruigh.
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