Green Group question on slaughterhouses and animal transport

Support regional food production

Since 2021, the Main-Kinzig-Kreis has been an eco-model region: ‘Unfortunately, the district took a lot of time to do so and applied as one of the last districts in Hesse,’ says Rainer Vogel, a member of the Green District Parliament. “Thanks to the eco-model region, however, the production of organic and regional food is now coming into focus.”

In particular, local and regional craft businesses could be a decisive engine for bringing regional and organic food products to consumers in the district in short distances: ‘In particular, the slaughter and processing of farm animals produced in the district should be carried out close to the consumer and without long transport routes’, says Vogel, who sits for the Greens in the district’s environment committee: “Transports are a major burden for animals. Through regionally and quickly accessible slaughterhouses, animal transport can be greatly shortened or even completely avoided through the use of a mobile slaughterhouse.”

For this reason, the Green parliamentary group asks the administration how many approved slaughterhouses there are in the Main-Kinzig district and how many slaughters, due to lack of capacity, must be carried out outside the district: ‘After the closure of the Büding slaughterhouse, many butchers, direct marketers and farmers in the Main-Kinzig district also lost the opportunity to slaughter their animals in the region. That is why we would like to know from the district what efforts are being made to promote regional slaughterhouses and avoid animal transport," said the Green Party member of the district parliament.

Animal transport is subject to strict requirements: ‘Across the A 66 and A 45 motorways, numerous supra-regional animal transports run through the Main-Kinzig district. It is precisely these transports that place high demands on animal welfare. We would therefore like to ask about the number of animal transport checks and the infringements recorded last year.” It should also be clarified whether the current number of staff in the veterinary office is sufficient.

‘The Greens in Main-Kinzig want to continue to support the production of regional food and rural agriculture and will therefore ask the district administration for the remaining possibilities via a request.’ This includes the use of a mobile slaughterhouse for grazing animal farmers, Vogel explains: "An initiative was rejected by the Grand Coalition in the Environment Committee of the district, with reference to EU law, which would prevent the deployment. In the Wetterau one was realized during this time. We would like to know which other EU directives apply in Wetterau, which make it possible to use them there and which changes would have to be made here in the district.”

The aim of the request is to bring important regional food production facilities back to the forefront: ‘A cooperation with the adjacent eco-model region of Wetterau would also be desirable in the future, for example a modern slaughterhouse in the border area between Main-Kinzig-Kreis and Wetteraukreis, which is geared to the needs of butchers and direct marketing companies, would be conceivable,’ concludes Vogel.

---

Enquiries to:

Jakob Mähler
Group Managing Director
Alliance 90 / The Greens Main-Kinzig
06181/61596
0176/46763336
fraktion@gruene-mkk.de