Mobile slaughterhouses will give quality meat a prosperous future in Sweden.
“Good animal welfare, stress-free slaughter in mobile slaughterhouses and reduced climate impact, creates an ethical quality meat and will be the future of meat” says Britt-Marie Stegs – founder of the pioneering company Hälsingestintan when she, along with the Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs Eskil Erlandsson and Prof. Bo Algers, presented Sweden’s first mobile slaughterhouse for cattle.
The launch of mobile slaughterhouses means that animals are not transported before slaughter. Instead, a mobile abattoir carries out the slaughter in the animals’ farm environment thereby avoiding stressful transportation to an abattoir.
– Today we present our concept for the future of meat, ethical meat. We are working intensively to develop an optimal production of Swedish quality meat. Two main reasons lay behind this investment – the consumer should have access to high-quality meat and the animal rearing and care should be world class. With our mobile slaughterhouses, we are taking the next step towards the future of farming and sustainable food production, says Britt -Marie Stegs.
Sweden’s Minister for Rural Affairs is looking forward to the project getting started.
“This is a very welcome initiative. The development of small abattoirs near the farms has expanded enormously in recent years, which shows that consumers demand meat from animals that have lived a good life and avoided long journeys,” Minister for Rural Affairs Eskil Erlandsson said. “This development can now get an even greater boost thanks to mobile slaughterhouses. Swedish farmers and breeders are extremely talented and I welcome all new ideas that improve profitability, quality as well as animal welfare.”
The method is also supported by scientific research. Bo Algers, veterinarian and researcher, has a long background in the animal care field and for him this is a dream come true.
“Slaughter on the farm provides the best animal welfare as the very stressful transportation preceding the slaughter is eliminated. This is the absolute best for animals,” Bo Algers said.
Buying meat is often a gamble and quality sorting is almost non-existent. This new slaughter method is an important step in offering additional choices of quality meat and the sorting of meat into different grades.
“Consumers are willing to pay more for meat when they know the origin, that it is tender and tasty, and that the animal has had a good life,” Britt-Marie Stegs said. “We are willing to invest heavily to ensure qualitative meat production and we are happy to see that consumers in Sweden are speaking up for sound animal welfare.”
