FDBusiness.com

Danish Crown, Europe´s largest meat processing company, plans to construct a new cattle slaughterhouse at Holsted in Denmark at a cost of DKr 0.5 billion (Eur67 million). The biggest single investment in the cattle sector ever, this will be the first large cattle slaughterhouse to be established in Denmark for almost four decades. Entailing the creation of about 300 new jobs, the slaughterhouse is based on state-of-the-art principles, paving the way for optimising quality control procedures, including better utilisation of by-products and, ultimately, better meat quality.

”We have for several years reaped the benefits of investing in a top modern slaughterhouse in the Pork Division, and when looking at the upward trend in production costs in the Danish slaughterhouse industry, we have to be at the technological forefront to be competitive. The new cattle slaughterhouse will secure us that position. We also ensure that we create the highest possible value from our raw materials as well as make the most of the energy and other resources available,” says Lorenz Hansen, division director of DC Beef.

As a result of the establishment of the new cattle slaughterhouse in Denmark, Danish Crown will be closing down the cattle slaughterhouses in Tonder and Holstebro, and the deboning departments in Skjern and Farvang will move to the new, modern slaughterhouse. The existing head office in Herning will also move to the new premises. 400 employees in DC Beef will be affected by the new slaughterhouse.

The slaughterhouse is expected to be ready at the beginning of 2014, but DC Beef expects to be able to relocate its head office to the new premises in autumn 2013.