• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • EYES ON ANIMALS – Watching out for their Welfare
  • English
  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch

Eyes on Animals

Watching out for their Welfare

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
DONATE
  • About us
    • What we do
    • Our team
    • Key Figures
    • Our Vision
    • Contact
  • News
    • Latest news
    • Good news
    • Bad news
    • Featured news
    • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Inspections
    • Farms
    • Markets
    • Transports
    • Slaughterhouses
    • Special projects
    • Other
  • Training
    • Police
    • Truck drivers
    • Poultry-catchers
    • Slaughter personnel
    • Training Material
    • Request a training
  • Industry Tips
    • Animal transport
      • Cattle
      • Pigs
      • Poultry
    • Slaughterhouses
      • Cattle
      • Pigs
      • Poultry
      • Ritual slaughter
    • Educational videos
  • Publications
    • In the media
      • Print
      • Television
      • Radio
      • Videos
    • Newsletters
    • Special reports
    • Training Material
    • Annual reviews
  • Help us
Home » Our inspections » slaughterhouses » Visit of Vion pig slaughter in Groenlo, NL

Visit of Vion pig slaughter in Groenlo, NL

October 14, 2014

19.11.2012_Vion(1)Today a team from Eyes on Animals, accompanied by a scientific researcher (Dr. Gerritzen from Wageningen University’s Livestock Research Center), visited the Vion pig slaughterhouse in Groenlo. Here pigs from the label “Groene Weg” are slaughtered, as well as pigs that do not fall under a special label. Groene Weg is a quality label where pigs are raised under higher welfare conditions.
We would first like to thank Vion Groenlo for accepting our request to re-visit their plant and discuss together ideas on how to further reduce stress during slaughter. We saw some positive points and appreciated their open attitude to try out an idea we saw earlier at Toennies- that of sprinkling corn on the empty pen floors before the pigs were placed in them in order to provide enrichment and distract them from becoming stressed or wanting to fight. It seemed to have a good effect today, with pigs walking into the waiting pens and focusing on foraging on the floor and remaining calm.
We had some concerns, in particular regarding the stress created when moving the pigs 180 degrees towards the double (parallel) chute leading to the electric stunner. As re-building this area to get rid of the sharp corner is too much of an investment, we think that at least reducing the noise level and group size could still make things better here. As well, it is important that employees in this area do not put too much pressure on the back of the line of pigs to move forward if they cannot because it is blocked up ahead. Additionally, some pigs in a rush to escape the employee in the last pen turned to enter the parallel chute but so quickly that they bumped into the divider between the two chutes with their faces. Vion has agreed with us that it is a good idea to cover the divider with a soft material.

Vion Groenlo has two unloading ramps that they use to unload pigs from the trucks into the building. One is very good, with even, anti-slip flooring and plastic sides that dampen the loud noise created when the metal gates of truck are slammed against it. But the other is rather slippery and has no material to dampen the noise of metal banging against metal. They will take note of our suggestion to pimp it up at some point. We noticed that they had placed a rubber mat in the waiting pen for animals arriving in poorer shape, which was a suggestion we made during our last visit in 2012. This has resulted in the pigs having a softer warmer floor to lie on whcih is positive. We hope that together more improvements can be attained and want to thank them for being open.

 

  • share 
  • share 
  • share 
  • save 
  • email 

Filed Under: Our inspections, slaughterhouses Tagged With: animal welfare, Vion pig slaughterhouse

Primary Sidebar

Search

Featured

As small slaughterhouses disappear, transport distances increase

Eyes on Animals is observing a troubling trend: transport distances for culled cows and sows are … [Read More...] about As small slaughterhouses disappear, transport distances increase

Featured

Dutch transport company Van Os implicated in serious transport fraud involving Irish calves

May 8, 2025

Once again, serious violations have been uncovered in the transport of calves from Ireland. Last … [Read More...] about Dutch transport company Van Os implicated in serious transport fraud involving Irish calves

Our most recent newsletter

Dear friends,

It’s not every day that an animal-welfare organization takes on the challenge of redesigning a large pig slaughterhouse and their animal handling techniques, but that’s exactly what we did in 2020.

Read more…

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe

* indicates required

Eyes on Animals op Twitter

eyes_on_animals Eyes on Animals @eyes_on_animals ·
18h

👍🐄🌱 Deze zuivelfabriek stapt over op 100 procent vegan: 'Van plant naar mens is veel logischer dan via koe'. #plantaardig

Reply on Twitter 1944422410674978895 Retweet on Twitter 1944422410674978895 13 Like on Twitter 1944422410674978895 59 Twitter 1944422410674978895
faunabeschermin De Faunabescherming @faunabeschermin ·
12 Jul

Hoe de vlinder verdween uit Nederland ⁦@jpgeelen⁩ @volkskrant 🦋☠️

Reply on Twitter 1943900278756966830 Retweet on Twitter 1943900278756966830 18 Like on Twitter 1943900278756966830 57 Twitter 1943900278756966830
eyes_on_animals Eyes on Animals @eyes_on_animals ·
13 Jul

“Vier ministeries willen met behulp van reclamebureaus het imago van bestrijdingsmiddelen verbeteren. Terwijl ze een gevaar zijn voor het insectenrijk en een risico voor onze eigen gezondheid. Nee, dan heb je er echt niets van begrepen.”

Reply on Twitter 1944305892238725481 Retweet on Twitter 1944305892238725481 22 Like on Twitter 1944305892238725481 51 Twitter 1944305892238725481
Load More...

ANBI

Footer

Donate with Paypal

Paypal Eyes on Animals
One-time donation:
Monthly donation:

Reading Material

  • In the Media
  • Newsletters
  • Special EonA reports
  • Legislative texts
  • ANBI

Our Amsterdam Office

Amsterdam House Hotel
Eyes on Animals main office is in downtown Amsterdam, at the Amsterdam House Hotel. The generous and warm-hearted hotel owner donated to Eyes on Animals, free of charge, a beautiful room where our inspectors can work, hold meetings and store their material.

Copyright © 2025 · Eyes on Animals | Website by Webkompaan