Repeat offenders: 3 Dutch slaughterhouses hit with many animal abuse violations

Three Dutch slaughterhouses each got over a dozen fines for animal welfare violations in eight years. Violations include animal abuse, slaughtering animals while they are still conscious, and dipping them in hot water before they are dead, RTL Nieuws reports based on violations and fines imposed by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) in the period 2015-2022.

The now-bankrupt Slacterij Gosschalk in Epe got a massive 19 fines for, among other things, using a taser on animals, not sedating them sufficiently before slaughter, and abusing injured animals. Vion received 13 fines for its three locations. The Van Rooi slaughterhouse in Helmond received at least 11 fines.

In recent years, the NVWA imposed the most fines for slaughtering conscious animals. NVWA inspectors found 45 times that animals were insufficiently sedated before the slaughter process started. Inspectors issued 14 fines for putting pigs into the “scalding tank,” containing water at 60 degrees, before they were killed.

The regulator also issued 22 fines for hitting and kicking animals and misusing tasers. In 2022, the NVWA fined Compaxo in Zevenaar and VION in Boxtel for beating animals with paddles, for example. That same year, inspectors also fined the EKRO and ESA slaughterhouses in Apeldoorn for hurting animals to make them walk faster.

RTL Nieuws asked the involved slaughterhouses for a response. VION, EKRO, and ESA confirmed that they received fines. They said that animal welfare is of utmost importance to them, and they constantly try to improve it.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food is working on a bill to improve animal welfare in slaughterhouses. The Ministry wants to ban the use of tasers and make camera surveillance mandatory. It also wants to enable the NVWA to remotely monitor slaughterhouses via camera from the regulator’s head office.