Today we made an unannounced visit to Clazing poultry slaughterhouse in Zevenhuizen (NL) because of the extreme heat. Clazing is a slaughterhouse with Halal certification. The chickens are reversibly stunned with an electrical waterbath. The containers (with live chickens in it) are first tilted, then manually hung upside down by their legs. They are then dragged through an electrical waterbath to be stunned. To reduce a small amount of stress during the live shackling Clazing has placed a breast support underneath the shackling line. They have also adjusted the design of the chute to make the tilting of the chickens slightly less abrupt.
Due to the heat Clazing on the day we attended started slaughtering earlier (03:00 instead of 05:00). This must be requested a week in advance with the NVWA (they are required to be present in order to check the slaughter processes). Generally they are satisfied with this collaboration. The temperature inside the lairage is kept around 20 degrees Celsius via an air-cooling system. To reduce heatstress, after 11:00 containers are only stacked maximum 2 high, so ventilation is sufficient. In the lairage there are 40 fans. They also have a trailer with 6 fans on top. This trailer is then parked up next to the truck that is loaded with chickens to improve ventilation and reduce heatstress.
We did not see the arrival of the poultry trucks during our visit and were not yet able to enter the slaughterhouse. The manager told us that he will discuss, with his team, our suggestion of a future visit to the slaughterhouse, to give advice on how to reduce the suffering. He said he will be in contact to let us know their decision. We hope to be given an invitation soon.
