The largest slaughterhouse in Europe belongs to Germany. It is located in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in North Rhine-Westphalia. Up to 26,000 pigs are slaughtered there every day and a total of 850 tonnes of fresh meat are produced. In December 2018, the capacity expansion of the slaughterhouse was approved and thus the slaughter capacity increases from 3,000 to 3,500 tonnes per day.

This oversupply of meat is to meet the increasing demand and shows a reality: we live in a society that is predominantly meat and animal products. This in turn leads to an increasing trend towards factory farming or a deterioration of animal husbandry conditions.

Less than ten percent of the meat on offer in supermarkets and discounters comes from animals from significantly better husbandry conditions.
Old and new farming labels next to each other cause confusion when shopping. The retailer’s “farming method” is not an animal welfare label.

The label is not a substitute for a government animal welfare label with criteria well above the legal minimum standard.
There is clearly a lack of information and transparency.