Danish duck slaughter plunges after Struer venture ends

Danish duck slaughter has fallen sharply since a local slaughterhouse venture ended, leaving supermarket ducks largely imported, DR reports.

More than 580,000 ducks were slaughtered in Denmark in 2017. Last year, the number was about 39,000. Ducks sold in Danish supermarkets are largely slaughtered and transported from France, Hungary, China or other countries.

The rise in domestic slaughter followed the opening of a duck abattoir in Struer in 2015. Martin Dåsbjerg, who had raised ducks on his farm, bought the former pig slaughterhouse at the town’s harbour in 2014. He said customers objected to transporting the birds 700 kilometres to Germany for slaughter.

In the years that followed, nearly all Danish ducks were slaughtered at the Struer plant. Dåsbjerg described its duck processing as among the best in the world.

The venture later came to an end. Jørgen Nyberg Larsen, a sector chief at Landbrug og Fødevarer, said many producers closed down as the slaughter numbers fell, leaving only a few with much smaller flocks.

Dåsbjerg blames a food-safety case that began with an inspection on December 17, 2019. A report in Ekstra Bladet shortly afterwards said employees had not washed their hands after lunch. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration had overlooked that staff were washing at a different sink, and apologised for the mistake in 2020. It nevertheless maintained criticism over duck droppings found on two of 100 slaughtered birds.

Dåsbjerg said the case was reopened a week before Christmas, when 90 per cent of the ducks were sold. The agency declined to comment to DR.

Nyberg Larsen said he did not expect duck slaughter in Denmark to recover soon. Ducks need large, open fields, he said, which can attract wild birds and make the spread of avian influenza easier. Dåsbjerg sees a possible opportunity in working with a duck abattoir near Flensburg.