Riverside Meats closes Echuca abattoir as probe continues

AN INVESTIGATION into allegations of animal welfare breaches at a North Victorian abattoir continues, despite the abattoir’s closure on Monday.

‘Ceasing production’: Riverside Meats at Echuca told workers on Monday that it could not “afford to keep operating the plant”.

AN INVESTIGATION into allegations of animal welfare breaches at a North Victorian abattoir continues, despite the abattoir’s closure on Monday.

Riverside Meats at Echuca issued workers with a notice on Monday that the business was “ceasing production activities” immediately.

“We simply cannot afford to keep operating the plant,” the notice said.

“The decision has been taken to terminate the employment of all employees by reason of redundancy.”

Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union assistant secretary Barrie Chalkley said up to 40 workers were left without a job.

The union said it was also notified of the closure on Monday.

“It’s disappointing that Riverside hadn’t consulted with the union (about the closure)” Mr Chalkley said.

“We’ll be seeking entitlements and redundancies for all the workers,” he said.

The union had been in the process of reaching a new employee agreement with Riverside Meats.

Last year, workers from the abattoir went on strike for two days during the agreement negotiations.

A spokesman for Agriculture Victoria this morning said the department’s investigation into allegations of animal welfare breaches, raised in 2016, continued.

“Many hundreds of hours of evidence are being reviewed by welfare experts,” the spokesman said.

“We need to identify and document all of the evidence, this is required to get a successful outcome.”

On November 23, 2016, Victoria’s chief vet Charles Milne announced the investigation into the abattoir after hundreds of hours of footage taken at Riverside Meats was made public by Animals Australia.

At the time, Dr Milne described it as “probably in terms of video evidence the worst case I have seen in my career”.

“There is no question in my mind that there are a series of welfare abuses that are completely unacceptable,” Dr Milne told the media.

However, PrimeSafe, the meat industry regulator, which began its investigation into Riverside Meats on October 25, 2016, told The Weekly Times last year, its investigation into Riverside Meats had concluded in November 2016.

Riverside Meats was contacted for comment.