The billion-euro veal company VanDrie Group is backing away from its firm promise to stop importing Irish calves from 2026 onwards. The company itself set this deadline following public outrage over the controversial and illegal calf transports. Now that the deadline has arrived, VanDrie is quietly continuing the imports.
Every spring, VanDrie imports tens of thousands of very young calves from Ireland to the Netherlands. The calves spend days travelling by sea and land and can go up to 30 hours without milk and with insufficient rest, in violation of European legislation.
Promise in annual report
Footage recorded by Eyes on Animals and Ethical Farming Ireland documenting these animal-unfriendly transports sparked public protests in 2018 and 2019. In the years that followed, the Dutch Parliament adopted several motions calling for an end to the import of Irish calves. In 2021, VanDrie promised in its CSR annual report:
“Before 2026 we will stop importing calves from Eastern Europe and Ireland into the Netherlands.”
No public outcry, business as usual
Now that public attention has faded, VanDrie appears to be disregarding animal welfare rules once again. As a result, tens of thousands of young animals will once again endure a long and difficult journey this year, only to end up as veal for VanDrie.
Call following legal proceedings
Together with Ethical Farming Ireland and Dier&Recht, we strongly urge VanDrie to honour its promise. We also call on State Secretary for Agriculture Silvio Erkens to accelerate the development of regulations concerning the cattle diseases Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) and Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD). Through this route, the government could still put an end to the illegal calf transports from Ireland.
