For two days, Waldkraiburg was the centre for animal welfare and meat hygiene in Bavaria. Around 180 official veterinarians and experts from ministries, science and industry came to the city at the invitation of the Bavarian State Working Group for Meat Hygiene and Animal Welfare (LAG Bayern) – and took the opportunity to visit the Vion slaughterhouse in Waldkraiburg to see for themselves how modern animal welfare, meat hygiene and food safety work together in practice.
The conference kicked off at the House of Culture with speeches by Bavaria’s Deputy Minister-President Hubert Aiwanger, Deputy District Administrator of Mühldorf am Inn Barbara Preisinger-Sontag and Waldkraiburg’s First Mayor Robert Pötzsch, among others. In their welcoming speeches, they emphasised the importance of strong agriculture and responsible food production – issues that play a central role for Bavaria and the Mühldorf region.
At the heart of this dialogue was Dr Veronika Weber, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Vion Food Group and responsible for animal welfare and food safety. In her presentation, she showed how animal welfare and digitalisation can be combined in the slaughtering process – from stable planning to AI-supported evaluations that help to measurably improve animal welfare. “Anyone who sees the conversion in Waldkraiburg understands that animal welfare is not a theoretical goal, but daily practice. Technology, processes and human behaviour – everything is interlinked when you take responsibility seriously. In recent years, we have invested heavily in animal welfare, built new facilities and continually learned where we can improve – and that is exactly what we continue to do, day after day,” emphasised Dr Weber.
The next day, this became clear: around 90 participants visited the Vion site in Waldkraiburg, which was converted according to the concepts of animal welfare expert Temple Grandin. The guests were able to see for themselves how modern stable management and trained employees shape the way animals are treated. It also became clear how closely meat hygiene, official monitoring and animal welfare are linked in everyday operations – and what added value the interaction between experts from architecture, authorities, business and digitalisation brings. Dr Kai Braunmiller, Chairman of LAG Bavaria, was also impressed: ‘In Waldkraiburg, we were able to see how good planning and animal welfare in practice go hand in hand. Examples like this are valuablefor the entire industry.’ The LAG conferences are an important part of the ongoing development and joint exchange aimed at improving food safety and animal welfare.
For Vion, the exchange was also an important opportunity to show what modern meat production can achieve when it focuses on transparency, innovation and cooperation. The Waldkraiburg site is considered an example of how responsible production can be developed step by step.
Photo caption: Divided into four groups, around 90 experts visited the Vion site in Waldkraiburg to get an idea of modern animal welfare and meat hygiene.