July 18, 2023

France seeks territorialised strategy for domestic slaughterhouses

France is undertaking a collective action with professional stakeholders and local authorities to develop a territorialised strategy for the management of domestic slaughterhouses.

The strategy serves the benefit of livestock industries, as the French slaughterhouse sector faces serious economic difficulties in recent times.

France has 233 slaughterhouses spread throughout the country. The current context of the livestock industries is marked by a more significant decapitalisation in recent months, combined with an increase in energy costs and inflation. This situation is expected to threaten the sustainability of the most vulnerable slaughterhouses.

This context requires a proactive response to preserve the relevant network at the level of each territory and thus ensure the sustainability of the livestock sectors, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty. The approach is divided into four areas:

    - Examining the appropriateness of the need and supply of slaughter facilities in each region, in the short, medium, and long term, and then to identify relevant areas for improvement and adaptation by producing areas;

    - Developing a harmonised methodology for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a slaughterhouse. Several problems can affect the viability of a slaughterhouse: sanitary problems, animal welfare, financial balance, governance and management of the slaughterhouse, commercial strategy, etc;

    - Drawing up a single document containing the tools that can be used by the various stakeholders to support establishments that are experiencing economic and sanitary difficulties;

    - Improving the existing synergy between different government departments to support slaughterhouses.

- Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty (France)