MEDIA RELEASE
Wellard Rural Exports supports efforts by the Australian industry to address a number of Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) issues, so that they do not undermine the continued operation of facilities that conduct their operations in accordance with ESCAS and proper animal welfare standards.
Wellard COO Fred Troncone said exporters to Vietnam need to work closely with their clients to assist with the identification of any breaches or potential breaches.
“ESCAS is a supply chain-based system where underperforming supply chains are removed. This is exactly how the system was designed to work,” he said.
All cattle supplied by Wellard to Vietnam are processed using pre-slaughter stunning, and many of the abattoirs are new abattoirs constructed specifically to meet Australian standards.
Last month Wellard suspended three abattoirs in one region in Vietnam from its supply chain. The suspension was a proactive and pragmatic decision and was not in response to any alleged, perceived or known breaches of the Company’s ESCAS (see press release 27 February 2015). The importer who supplied the abattoirs agreed with the Company’s decision and immediately stopped the supply Wellard cattle to the nominated abattoirs.
Mr Troncone said the suspension was for risk management purposes.
“Some nearby abattoirs were not meeting the standards we require and it was important that there was no confusion about which abattoirs belonged to our supply chain and also to demonstrate our seriousness about absolute ESCAS compliance,” Mr Troncone said.
“Once Wellard senior management visited each abattoir and confirmed they were meeting acceptable standards, the suspension was lifted.”
This action is generally consistent with previous actions by Wellard to remove or suspend the supply of livestock to particular supply chains when compliance was at high risk.
In July last year Wellard also sought to improve animal welfare practices outside of the Company’s supply chain, by providing around 100 captive bolt stunners and charges to 50 abattoirs in Vietnam to help improve animal welfare and slaughtering techniques for cattle from all nations at the nominated abattoirs.
The abattoirs, which were not part of Wellard’s Vietnamese supply chain and mainly processed local Vietnamese cattle, used outdated slaughter practices which created welfare and safety risks to both animals and abattoir workers.
“This donation by Wellard was an investment in cultural change and immediate improvement in the slaughter techniques of these abattoirs in Vietnam so that animal welfare of local Vietnamese cattle was improved, this donation is also our way of contributing to a market which is supporting Australian producers by buying quality Australian livestock said Mr Troncone.”
Mr Troncone said Wellard was pleased that its Vietnamese supply chain complied with the RSPCA operational requirements “that must be in place to achieve good animal welfare outcomes in slaughter facilities”.
| RSPCA requirement | Wellard Vietnam abattoir requirement |
| Enforceable animal welfare legislation | Supply chains accredited under Australian ESCAS and therefore OIE compliant |
| A skilled, trained and permanent workforce | Regular training seminar for all supply chain staff required
Standard Operating Procedures implemented Skilled training team must be present during the first week’s slaughter for newly approved facilities. This ensures that correct processes are properly embedded. |
| Requirement for pre-slaughter stunning | 2x stunners required in every facility (one as a primary source, one as back-up if operational issues occur with primary stunner) |
| Regular auditing against measurable animal welfare standards | Animal Welfare Officers present in every abattoir
Weekly snap inspections by roving Senior Animal Welfare Officer CCTV installed for continuous monitoring Independent audits conducted |
“Wellard is focussed on continual improvement of animal welfare outcomes throughout the world, and our Vietnamese importer is 100 per cent supportive and has made a considerable investment to ensure cattle are processed to the standards Australia requires,” Mr Troncone said.
For further information please contact:
Cameron Morse
Phone: + 61 8 9485 8888
Mobile: +61 (0) 433 886 871