At chicken slaughterhouse Plukon in Blokker, NVWA inspectors see dozens of animals with large, open wounds and bleeding, dislocated wings. The chickens lie underneath a machine that unstacks the transport crates. Plukon promotes the device as an animal welfare improvement. In reality, accidents happen there with clockwork regularity. A spokesperson for the NVWA denied in the media that chickens suffer seriously at Beter Leven slaughterer Plukon. Inspection documents now in the hands of the investigation group Ongehoord show the opposite.

NVWA reports show structural animal suffering

The problems began in 2022, when the Plukon site in Blokker introduced the "ATLAS system" for the transport and delivery of chickens. Because this modern system uses a larger type of crate, more animals can be loaded per truck, which saves on transport costs. ^[1] To the outside world, Plukon presented the ATLAS system as a way to improve animal welfare. ^[2]

NVWA reports now show that the system has serious shortcomings. On arrival at the slaughterhouse, the chickens sit in high stacks of crates on the truck. A forklift lifts the stack off the truck and places it on the conveyor towards the "unstacker". This is a machine that places the crates side by side. Dozens of NVWA reports describe serious accidents during unstacking.

In the media, the NVWA denied the serious animal suffering taking place in the slaughterhouse. A spokesperson stated in the Noordhollands Dagblad that only "minor violations" had been established, such as "an employee who does not wash their hands properly after using the toilet", or an "incorrectly set temperature of disinfection water". ^[3] These claims fit the media policy of the NVWA. In order to protect the reputation and the economic interests of the animal industry, consumers are misled with half-truths. Serious violations and animal suffering are kept quiet.

Bleeding, dislocated and broken wings

The inspection documents show that dozens of chickens are injured or die during the unstacking of transport crates. The chickens sit in transport crates without lids; the crates are closed off by stacking them on top of one another. During unstacking, the chickens can therefore escape.

Photos taken by the NVWA show chicks with bleeding, dislocated and broken wings. Animals are regularly trapped between the crates before they fall down. An inspector describes how a chicken remains caught by one wing on the crate above it. The animal flaps its wings violently and finally falls down, skinning the wing in the process.

Serious injuries

Several chicks are found underneath the unstacker with large open wounds on the head and neck, their skin torn away. An inspector describes how, during the unstacking process, the chicks can get their heads trapped. "Chicks that stick their heads out of the container run a greater risk of decapitation, entrapment and serious injury".

Falling to their death

Video footage from the NVWA shows a chick landing on the ground in convulsions. After flapping its wings violently for minutes, the animal falls onto its back and dies. Another chicken was found dead underneath the unstacker. The animal had a large haemorrhage under its left wing; the wing bone had snapped and was sticking out. About another chicken, the NVWA noted not only a serious wound on the neck, but even intestines hanging out of the body.

Chickens of natural breeds can easily flutter down a few metres, for example from a tree in which they sleep. The industrial chickens slaughtered at Plukon, however, have been bred for strong growth of their breast meat. As a result, these 'broiler chickens' cannot flutter and run a high risk of injury when they fall.

Stress, hunger, thirst

Some chicks sustain no significant injuries in the fall. Even so, the NVWA speaks of serious animal suffering here as well. Underneath the unstacker, the fallen chicks find themselves in a strange environment, without drinking water, feed or litter. An inspector writes: "It is clear that this situation caused the animal a great deal of stress and therefore also suffering. The chicken then also still had to be caught [...]."

Fines make no impression

Although the NVWA issued fines for the recorded abuses, Plukon does nothing to prevent the animal suffering. Since the installation of the new unstacker at the end of 2022, the animal welfare problems have continued to stack up. At least until 2024 we see chicks being injured and dying at the machine. Apparently animal suffering is no reason to take action, which is not entirely surprising for a slaughterer. The financial incentive does not seem to make an impression either. The NVWA issued fines of between 5,000 and 10,000 euros. Against the Plukon Food Group's turnover of 4 billion euros, fines like that are small change.

Beter Leven

Anyone who thought that Beter Leven animals receive preferential treatment in the meat industry is mistaken. The NVWA reports show that Beter Leven chicks are not spared serious animal welfare violations either.

An inspector describes how containers of chicks remain standing on the trucks for hours after arrival because of breakdowns on the slaughter line. The animals come from the Beter Leven chicken shed of Jukema in Blije. They sat for more than 12 hours without drinking water and feed, in containers that were "very seriously soiled with manure". The inspector notes in the report that such breakdowns, with mounting waiting times, occur structurally at Plukon Blokker.

In one transport coming from Beter Leven farm Hoekstra (Arum), the inspector counted no fewer than 171 chicks that had died on the way. Enquiries with the poultry farmer revealed that around 400 Beter Leven chicks had already died during catching in the shed: "The chickens were driven up during catching, then get startled and all fly together into a corner where they end up in a heap and suffocated one another."

In another transport, carried out by a Plukon driver and coming from the Beter Leven company Reemst (Holwierde), 285 dead chicks were counted. The distance to the slaughterhouse was only 193 km (about 3 hours' driving), but the driver took 7 hours because he made 2 long intermediate stops along the way (1x 47 minutes and 1x 2 hours and 2 minutes). When the vehicle is stationary there is no ventilation, and chicks suffocate from heat and lack of oxygen. The inspector notes in the report that this is not the first time that large numbers of chicks have died on the way due to a lack of ventilation. Photos show stacks of dead Beter Leven chickens that were removed from the transport crates at the slaughterhouse.

Chickens are not helped by quality marks

This is not the first time that the investigation group Ongehoord has demonstrated abuses under the quality mark. At laying hen slaughterer Van der Meer in Dronryp, we filmed serious mistreatment and slaughter without stunning in 2019. In 2021 we revealed that Van der Meer was still electrocuting hens in the water bath banned by the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming). Only after we made public in 2025 that the heads of live chickens were being torn off at Van der Meer did the slaughterhouse lose the Beter Leven quality mark. ^[5]

Nor does the quality mark offer chickens any protection in the breeding farms. In 2024 we filmed injured, sick and dead chicks at Coolen in Helden in a completely sealed shed, while the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming) tells consumers that Beter Leven chickens can go outside into a covered range. We discovered that Coolen was no exception: 4 out of 5 Beter Leven broiler farmers were granted a postponement by the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming) for building the range. The chicken meat was nevertheless already being sold at the quality mark's premium price. ^[6] In 2021 we filmed lame chicks at Oranjehoen, a Beter Leven company that received an animal welfare prize from the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming). ^{[7] [8]} In 2017 we filmed serious animal suffering among Beter Leven laying hens, including in a shed belonging to Rondeel, with 3 Beter Leven stars from the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming). ^[9]

Animal suffering cannot be prevented

The inspection documents from Plukon Blokker show that meat production goes hand in hand with serious animal suffering. As animal suffering has become an ever more important theme in society, the meat industry is doing everything in its power to soothe the conscience. Of new housing, transport and slaughter systems it is almost always claimed that they will benefit animal welfare. In practice there is no evidence of this whatsoever. While the Beter Leven quality mark does boost the sales figures of animal products, the welfare of animals has improved little or not at all. ^[10] That the NVWA will not eliminate animal suffering either has been known for years. The organisation is doing everything it can to cover up the abuses in the slaughterhouses. Not only does the NVWA refuse to release documents from its inspections, its spokespeople even lie brazenly about the contents of those documents. ^{[11] [12]} With this publication, the investigation group Ongehoord seeks to give honest information to consumers, because only on the basis of accurate facts can a proper discussion be held about animal suffering.