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The financial courts have carried out an extensive investigation into 80 public slaughterhouses (municipal or inter-municipal) in nine regions. The investigations showed that this public service is not very profitable and that most of the plants are experiencing serious financial difficulties. These slaughterhouses are too large and under-exploited, and their total output represents no more than 7% of the country's total production. In particular, for pork, in 2017 production in municipal slaughterhouses represented only 5.4% of the country's total pork produced.
The Court of Audit of France had already pointed out in its 1990 annual public report the disappointing results of slaughterhouse planning and highlighted the inadequacy of their funding mechanism, as well as local pricing practices leading to deficits and poor distribution of slaughter capacities. In the 1996 annual public report, the Court again had to point out, with regard to public slaughterhouses in the Aquitaine region, that most of these facilities remained under-exploited, experienced structural deficits and placed an increasing burden on municipal budgets.
February 25, 2020/ 333 Staff with information from the French Court of Auditors
