Visit to Westfort pig slaughterhouse, NL

Today we visited Westfort pig slaughterhouse. We were there for several reasons, one of which is because they want us to help promote a new label that aims to better respect the welfare of pigs and the environment. This is an on-going discussion which we will report on at a later date once we know more. But we want to report on some improvements inside their slaughterhouse, that we discovered while being given a tour of it today. We had not visited this plant since 2010, when we had a concern for the pigs arriving in a weaker shape and put into a separate pen right next to the unloading area. This pen was not sealed (large gaps underneath the walls) and had a wet floor. A cold draft from the open garage door was coming in via the gaps. The pigs inside were shivering and looked very miserable. We also had a concern for a gap found above the chamber where the pigs are stunned. In 2010 a pig caught her head in this gap, causing unnecessary additional stress. We were positively surprised and impressed today to see that both these concerns had been attended to and solutions were put into place! Rubber flaps had been placed all along the “sick” pen to seal it and floor heating was installed to keep the temperature always 20 degrees Celcius. And the gap above the stunning chamber has been fixed so there is no chance for a pig to get her or his head or limb caught in it. Although a slaughterhouse is never a pleasant place, we appreciate that this plant took steps on our suggestions and has in turn alleviated some stress for the animals. We were also very impressed to see that they installed video cameras throughout the slaughterhouse- from the unloading of the pigs to the stunning and slaughtering process, to monitor that the employees are calm with the animals and the equipment working properly. They have also hired a pig farmer to advise the employees working in the waiting stalls on how to move pigs  in a calm manner, using the pigs’natural behaviour instead of prods and force.