Pork and chicken production was outstanding in Hungarian slaughterhouses in 2024, but this year the reappearance of foot-and-mouth disease after more than 50 years brings uncertainty, reported Világgazdaság.
The beef industry has seen the highest growth of all livestock sectors over the last 25 years, with the most significant increase in the number of cows between 2010 and 2020. This slowed between 2021 and 2023, and the number of breeding herds declined slightly. However, last year the industry regained momentum, with purchase prices rising by 15-20% in all sales categories. This has led to an increase in demand for breeding animals.
In 2024, the beef sector benefited from significant amounts of coupled and transitional national aid. To improve the competitiveness of livestock farms, last year the government launched two new calls for proposals for the renewal of livestock holdings under the CAP National Managing Authority’s Strategic Plan to 2027, with a total budget of HUF 200 billion (EUR 503 million).
This optimism has been tempered by the emergence of the foot-and-mouth disease, which has led to the slaughter of 1,400 cows in Kisbajcs, near the Austrian border in Győr-Moson-Sopron county.
Samples have since been received from all but three counties and tested on suspicion, but none of them were positive except for one case in Kisbajcs. Sheep and pigs are also at risk from foot-to-mouth disease, and the industry is now anxious not only to stop it from spreading, but also to lift all transport restrictions for the Easter season.
Professionals can draw important conclusions from slaughter numbers, but for the public, these facilities are most in the spotlight when it comes to animal welfare issues. The EU’s slaughter regulation came into force in 2013. Since then, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a number of scientific opinions on animal welfare at the time of slaughter, including criteria for assessing applications for new or modified stunning methods.
The review of animal welfare regulations is ongoing. New transport requirements have already been introduced, and last year
the European Court of Justice ruled that Belgium’s ban on ritual slaughter without prior stunning does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights. This decision could pave the way for a Europe-wide ban on non-stunned ritual slaughter.
The importance of the matter is indicated by the fact that animal welfare rules were not ignored even in the current crisis, when 1,400 animals had to be killed to prevent the further spread of the epidemic. In this case too, the animals were killed after stunning.
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Via Világgazdaság; Featured picture: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher
