Vion strengthens position eastern Germany

Vion Food Group is on the highway to the new states of Germany – with tens of millions in investment and expansion of its site in Thuringia. Vion Food Group has long supported the trend towards greater regionalism among consumers and food retailers, with previous investment worth almost 50 million euros and the expansion of production capacity at its Altenburg site beginning in 2020, and this support is set to continue.

The delivery of fresh shelf-ready beef and pork products from a single supplier (including organic) meets the increasing demand from regional food retail programmes with a reduced carbon footprint and improved animal welfare due to shorter transport times.

Short supply chains

“Integrating regional farmers into our short sustainable supply chains concept with this investment enables Vion to secure our joint future as the most important regional beef and pork supplier in eastern Germany,” says Vion Beef Director David De Camp. “That’s why we are very pleased to have decided to invest two years ago. We are all living in difficult times. But our continual investment represents a clear commitment not only to the region and the security of our operations in Thuringia and Brandenburg, but also to the cattle and pig farmers in the area surrounding our sites in Altenburg and Perleberg.”

A close partnership with food retailers

The expansion of Vion’s activities in eastern Germany is consistent with its strategy of building balanced supply chains for the meats sold by the largest German food retailers. At the same time, the company is able to meet the demand of dedicated food retail partners for more local and regional products in the new states of Germany.

Multi-stage implementation: Starting in Altenburg

• The concrete actions taken by Vion in building this closed regional supply chain – known internally by the name “BBC East” – are part of a multi-stage project involving
• expanding the portfolio of Vion’s site in Altenburg in the areas of meat cutting, processing and packaging;
• extending state-of-the-art cooling technology at the Vion pig abattoir in Perleberg, Brandenburg;
• commissioning nine new fully automatic case-ready lines (for the producers Vemag, Dealpac, Cabinpant and Marel), to produce fresh pre-packaged beef and pork products in Altenburg, as well as Grossostheim in Lower Franconia.

Five of these machines equipped with innovative technology such as automated packaging, high-speed portioning, precision dicing and high-performance mincing will be commissioned in Altenburg. Four of the lines will increase future production capacity at the Grossostheim site.

Source: Vion Food Group