In 2015 and 2017, Eyes on Animals visited Heinen slaughterhouse in Zelhem (NL), where pigs and cattle are slaughtered. Following our advice, adjustments were made to the pig restraint box, which led to some improvements. Although we appreciated these changes, the process of moving pigs towards the restraint box remained very stressful, and further improvements were clearly needed.
Design flaws in the raceway
At Heinen, pigs must enter a narrow, long raceway one by one. For social animals like pigs, who prefer to stay in groups, this is a frightening experience. The raceway also inclines steeply, which makes handling even more difficult. During our visits, we also observed a significant difference in staff approach: while one employee remained patient despite the design challenges, another became visibly frustrated, leading to noise, pushing, and erratic movements—all of which caused stress to the pigs.
No progress since 2017 – welfare remains insufficient
Since 2017, Eyes on Animals has repeatedly attempted to support further improvements at Heinen. We proposed both small and major adjustments, inspired by successful practices at other slaughterhouses that use electric stunning—such as the corral-shaped raceway at Naturverbund in Germany, the Bud Box system with a transparent restraint box at Willems in Druten, and the double raceway that allows pigs to walk side by side, better reflecting their natural behavior.
Although we fully understand that improvements take time and small slaughterhouses face various challenges, we had hoped for a little more willingness and transparency. As far as we know, the level of animal welfare has remained unchanged. To date, Heinen has informed us that they do not have time for our visits and consider inspections by the NVWA sufficient.
We regret that the collaboration has stalled. In our view, animal welfare at Heinen is currently inadequate, despite the clear potential for improvement.
