Brussels slaughterhouses fear ban on unanaesthetised slaughter

After Flanders and Wallonia, it is possible that ritual slaughter without stunning will also be banned in Brussels. This is causing great concern at the Abattoir in Anderlecht, where 80% of the animals are slaughtered without stunning.

Future threatened

In the Anderlecht slaughterhouses, 50,000 animals are slaughtered every year. About eighty percent of these slaughters are done without anaesthetics. The economic importance of ritual, unanaesthetised slaughter in Brussels should therefore not be underestimated. If there were to be a ban, there would be a period of one and a half years to comply. The current uncertainty comes on top of the uncertainty regarding a renewal of the slaughter line permit after 2028. The Brussels region is drawing up a master plan for the Abattoir site, which may leave no room for a slaughterhouse.

No guarantee of better animal welfare

In Flanders, the ban on non-anaesthetised slaughter was introduced in 2019 to improve animal welfare. In Brussels, they are not convinced that this will actually be the case. On the one hand, animals will have to be transported for longer periods of time to countries where ritual slaughter will still be possible, and on the other hand, ritual slaughter will still take place behind closed doors, without any form of control.

Short chain and employment at risk

As Abattoir supplies mainly to Brussels, a possible ban on non-anaesthetised slaughter also poses a threat to the short chain. Finally, a ban would also have consequences for the 25 slaughterers and 200 meat cutters who work in the Anderlecht slaughterhouses.