Vion N.V. is an internationally operating company of the

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

and

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

with headquarters in

Boxtel Boxtel () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name derives from Buchestelle and is presumably a combination of 'stelle' (Dutch for stable, safe place) and (deer) buck.2019. Etymologiebank.Nl. Accessed April 27 2019 This i ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is among the largest meat producers in Europe, with production sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. In 2021, the company had a

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...

of €4.6 billion.

Ownership

Vion is legally organized as Naamloze vennootschap (''N.V.''). Vion's sole

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal o ...

is ''

Stichting A ''stichting'' () is a Dutch legal entity with limited liability, but no members or share capital, that exists for a specific purpose. This form of entity makes it possible to separate functions of ownership and control. Its use has been pioneered ...

Administratiekantoor SBT'' (SBT). SBT issued

depositary receipt A depositary receipt (DR) is a negotiable financial instrument issued by a bank to represent a foreign company's publicly traded securities. The depositary receipt trades on a local stock exchange. Depositary receipts facilitates buying shares in ...

s for its shares, which are all held by '' Noordbrabantse Christelijke Boerenbond, Rooms-Katholieke Vereniging van Boeren en Tuinders-Ontwikkeling'' (NCB-Ontwikkeling). ''NCB-Ontwikkeling'' in turn acts as the

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

of ''Zuidelijke Land- en Tuinbouworganisatie'' (ZLTO), an agricultural association with approximately 15,000 members.

History

The company originates in 1934, when the ''Noordbrabantse Christelijke Boerenbond'' (NCB), now known as ''ZLTO'', founded the company ''Destructor NCB'' for processing animal carcasses of the farmers of the NCB. In the 1980s, the company expanded via

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

s. In the 1990s, it entered the market for value-added products, mainly

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

. It was renamed to ''Sobel N.V.'' In 2002, ''ZLTO'' decided to enter the meat industry. Therefore, the ''ZTLO'' additionally founded the ''Bestmeat Company N.V.'' and brought it together with ''Sobel'' into the new holding company ''Best Agrifund N.V.'' The first takeover in the meat industry was the leading German meat company ''Moksel'' in early 2003. Following, the company took over the leading Dutch meat company ''Dumeco'' in mid-2003, and ''Norddeutsche Fleischzentrale'' (NFZ, ''Nordfleisch'') in the end of 2003. In 2004, ''Hendrix Meat'' was bought from ''Nutreco Holding N.V.'' and in 2005 the German company ''Südfleisch'' was taken over. In 2004, the holding company was renamed from ''Best Agrifund N.V.'' to ''Sovion N.V.'' In July 2006, the company was again renamed from ''Sovion'' to ''VION Food Group''. The sales of Vion grewing from mere €760 million in 2002 to more than €7 billion euro in 2007. In 2008, Vion acquired the lamb and poultry company '' Grampian Country Food Group Ltd'' based in Scotland for more than €400 million and, in 2010, the Dutch cattle slaughtering company ''Weyl Beef''. In 2012, Vion sold her British pork operation to the

2 Sisters Food Group 2 Sisters Food Group, a subsidiary of Boparan Holdings Ltd, is a privately owned food manufacturing company with head offices in Birmingham, England primarily focusing on private label manufacturing for retailer and food service markets. Establ ...

to focus on their Dutch and German operations. In 2019 it announced to close the factory in

Valkenswaard Valkenswaard () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant. The municipality had a population of in and spans an area of of which is water. The name Valkenswaard ...

and redistribute staff and products to other factories in Netherland and Germany.

Structure

Vion is divided into four business units

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

food service The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...

and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

. The company has production and sales locations on all continents. The business unit pork comprises 12 production facilities for pigs, four of which are in the Netherlands and eight in Germany. Vion slaughters 15 million pigs annually in total. Vion's largest pig

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

is located in Boxtel with a daily slaughtering capacity of 20,000 pigs. The business unit beef builds upon the annual slaughtering of almost 1 million

cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

Products

The product portfolio of Vion's core activities comprises fresh pork and beef, a diverse range of

convenience food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily p ...

products and a range of vegetarian consumer products. Vion supplies products to more than 100 million consumers daily. 37% of the produced meat is exported.

Controversies

Vion was repeatedly criticized for exploitation of workers. In 2020, there were multiple corona hotspots among meat workers in Vion facilities and the company was criticized for bad living conditions of the workers.

References

External links

Official site "Vion Food Group"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vion Meat companies of the Netherlands Cooperatives in the Netherlands Agriculture in the Netherlands Food and drink companies established in 1934 1934 establishments in the Netherlands Companies based in North Brabant