Background & Purpose
Long animal transports to slaughter create stress for animals and make it harder for local farming to thrive. To support local food production and animal welfare, there is a need to make smaller, local slaughtering options more accessible.
Proposals & Debate
Parliament considered around 160 different proposals regarding animal welfare submitted during the autumn 2023 motion period. The debate focused heavily on supporting small-scale and mobile slaughterhouses versus saying no to the remaining miscellaneous proposals.
The Decision
Parliament voted on March 26, 2024, to send an official call to action to the government to investigate simpler rules for small-scale slaughterhouses. All other proposals in the motions were rejected.
Does this affect you?
- Small-scale farmers: May gain easier access to local slaughtering options, reducing transport costs and logistics burdens.
- Operators of mobile slaughterhouses: Could benefit from future regulatory changes aimed at expanding their operational possibilities.
- Consumers of locally produced food: Will likely see an increased supply of locally processed meat products in the future.
In Practice
- The government is tasked with investigating how rules for smaller slaughterhouses can be simplified.
- An exploration will be made into how to increase the number of mobile slaughterhouses that travel directly to farms.
- Transport distances for farm animals going to slaughter are intended to become shorter over time.
- Local and small-scale agriculture receives political support to enable farming in more parts of the country.