Dear community members,
The poultry euthanasia situation due to a union conflict in one of the largest slaughterhouses in the province is of concern to many Quebecers. The purpose of this newsletter is to give more information on the circumstances and on the role of Sanimax in this exceptional situation.
When poultry reaches a certain level of maturity, they are normally brought to the slaughterhouse to be processed into food products for human consumption. But when a slaughterhouse is not in operation, and the poultry exceeds a certain weight limit, producers are compelled to euthanize them, since they cannot keep them in their facilities, for animal welfare reasons, among others.
To minimize wastage resulting from this unfortunate situation, a part of the poultry normally destined for the slaughterhouse is distributed to other facilities to ensure the supply of our grocery stores and restaurants. Once the maximum capacity of all these slaughterhouses is reached, the other part is therefore collected by Sanimax, which plays an important role in revalorizing this organic matter by transforming it into proteins and fats that are returned for animal feed. Otherwise, it would be lost and sent to landfills.
Sanimax and renewing
As mentioned in our June 4 publication, all of the organic matter resulting from the unfortunate situation is processed by our plant located near Quebec City.
The continuous work of our team allows us to reclaim organic matter and return it to the food chain as fat and protein: a good example of the circular economy.
As planned, the Montreal plant will shut down during the day on Saturday.
