Thursday 9 and Friday 10 October, a Danish working group visited the Dutch pork chain. The group was informed about the Dutch Better Life Label and the approach to optimizing the welfare of pigs. Specifically, a look was taken at the Dutch experiences with stopping castration of male pigs, docking of tails and housing of farrowing sows. This fact finding mission was organised in follow up of an earlier meeting between the Danish Minister for Agriculture, Jørgensen, and Minister Dijksma (in May 2014).
The Danish working group comprised a total of 17 representatives from the pig sector, slaughter industry, animal welfare organisations, retail and government. The group’s mission is to formulate recommendations for the Danish Minister regarding the possibilities for introducing an animal welfare label in Denmark.
Representatives of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals, the steering committee ‘Boars heading for 2018’ and Vion Food Nederland gave explanations about the Dutch approach on pig welfare. Also experiences of introducing better welfare products in the Albert Heijn supermarket chain were outlined. The group further discussed the European developments and the EU goals to stop castration in 2018. The Danish guests visited a supermarket of Albert Heijn, a pig farmer working in conformity with the requirements of the Better Life Label of the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals and a slaughterhouse of Vion Food Nederland.
The Danish and Dutch representatives expressed their wish to continue to exchange information and where possible to cooperate towards jointly supported boar taint detection methods, in order to realize the European goal to stop castration in 2018.