EU Parliament committee calls for more support for on-farm slaughter of animals

Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee backed the Commission’s proposal to give farmers greater flexibility to slaughter animals on the farm and thus reduce the need for animal transport, but called for more assistance.

In a delegated regulation adopted last December, the European Commission proposed to make it easier to kill animals on the farm, when there is a danger to the animal or the operator during transport.

Local abattoirs in Europe are shrinking in favour of large industrial structures, prolonging the time to transport live animals, causing stress and even physical suffering.

For NGOs and a growing number of EU countries, the solution lies in on-farm slaughter, using “mobile slaughterhouses” – lorries that travel from farm to farm with the appropriate equipment.

“We are giving more flexibility to on-farm slaughter,” Koen Van Dyck, a representative of the Commission’s DG Health, told the MEPs on the Agriculture Committee.

The only condition, he recalled, is to comply with the hygiene rules to guarantee food safety, as the meat is sold on the European market and may even be exported, with no difference between it and products from industrial abattoirs.

For example, a veterinarian must be present on the farm before slaughter.

MEPs broadly supported the proposal, but Martin Häusling (Germany, Greens/EFA) said that “there is still a lot of bureaucracy,” complaining in particular about the requirement for a veterinarian to be present on site.

“There are millions of hunters in Europe, and when they slaughter a deer, there is no vet present”, the German organic farmer added, while Romanian MEP Daniel Buda (EPP) pointed out that “there are not enough vets to send them wherever the animals are slaughtered”.

The Commission dismissed that criticism as it considers the “before-death inspection” by a veterinarian a “necessary” procedure to ensure that meat is as safe as any other meat on the market.

Economic viability

“In Romania, there are not many slaughterhouses on the territory, so the Commission should now ensure that the member states apply this legislation,” Buda added, calling for financial assistance to farms to buy treatment and processing equipment.

This request was among those tabled by the European Parliament in a 2021 report by the Committee of Inquiry on the protection of animals during transport.

Gilles Lebreton (France, ID) underlined that the first French mobile slaughterhouse to start operating in 2021 – Bœuf Ethique – went into bankruptcy after just two years in business because of a drop in orders due to COVID-related confinement, rising costs, and accumulated late payments.

“Is the Commission aware of this failure in France?” the MEP asked, acknowledging that the system works in other countries, such as Sweden.

The Scandinavian country, which is very sensitive to animal welfare issues, is now a benchmark in this field. It invested heavily in recent years to produce high-quality animal products on a small scale.

According to the European Court of Auditors, farmers using mobile slaughterhouses are also “faced with challenges in terms of logistics and profitability”. Operating costs make it necessary to “create added value” and raise prices for consumers.

A third of EU live animal journeys last over eight hours, auditors find

Regional cost differences and uneven enforcement of EU animal transport rules by member states incentivise live animal transport, leading to loopholes and risks to adequate animal welfare standards, according to a new review by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

Irène Tolleret (France, Renew) said that clear labelling of the method of slaughter would enable farmers to “add value to their meat and build customer loyalty”.

Gradual liberalisation

The EU rules have prohibited slaughter on farms since 2004. Since 2021, however, farmers have been authorised to bleed and stun animals on the farm if there is a danger to the animal or the operator during transport.

On 14 December 2023, the Commission adopted a delegated act extending on-farm slaughter to sheep and goats – whereas experiments had been limited to horses, cattle and pigs – when there is a risk during transport. Each farmer can now kill up to three oxen, six pigs or nine sheep or goats per year.

According to European Commission data, more than a third of live animal journeys in the EU last between 8 and 24 hours. For horses, cattle, sheep, and goats, this represents more than 40% of journeys.

Commission tables a fraction of promised animal welfare package

The European Commission has made proposals for stricter rules on animal transport and pets, but campaigners have lambasted a number of loopholes, while large parts of the originally envisaged animal welfare overhaul have been left to the next mandate.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Zoran Radosavljevic]

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