Heidemark

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heidemark GmbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1968
Seat Höltinghausen , Germany
management Christoph Bernhard Kalvelage
Number of employees 2,000
sales 700 million euros
Branch food industry
Website www.heidemark.de

The Heidemark group of companies , based in Höltinghausen, is one of the largest German producers and sellers of poultry products (100% in turkey meat production).

Products

The focus of the range is on turkey meat. The range of preparation includes fresh and grilled goods as well as convenience frozen products, the focus is on portioned and prepared fresh poultry for self-service counters in food retailers.

Distribution channels

Customers throughout Europe are supplied, in Germany mainly the food retail sector. In addition, food manufacturers and processors (including producers of baby food), meat and sausage wholesalers as well as large individual customers (e.g. Lufthansa) and the catering industry are supplied. As a factory outlet, the Heidemark poultry shop in Ahlhorn complements the sales channels.

About 80% of the production is sold to customers in Germany, the rest is exported to Europe. There are also slaughter according to Islamic law .

The current veterinary control number of the processing plants is:

  • Ahlhorn, Heidemark Mästerkreis GmbH & Co .: EZG 22 (also approved for South Africa), DE-NI 10067 EG

structure

Heidemark in Ahlhorn

Heidemark GmbH is the central, operative company of the group of companies and has a number of subsidiaries, including a .:

  • Food and Carry GmbH : Logistics company of the group of companies.
  • Heidemark Mästerkreis GmbH & Co. KG : Production company for the Ahlhorn location
  • Heidemark Polska Sp. Z oo

Heidemark's production system is largely vertically integrated in the turkey meat division . H. From the parent herds to the hatcheries, the organization of the fattening farms, the slaughtering, the further processing, the cooling and the distribution logistics using our own refrigerated vehicle fleet, the entire value chain and quality control are in one hand. Heidemark is certified according to QS , IFS , BRC and practices the system of 5-D labeling .

The main shareholder of the company is Christopher Kalvelage, who, together with his brother Jan Bernd Kalvelage, took over the shares from father Christoph Bernhard Kalvelage, the son of the company founder , in 2015. The Heidemark GmbH is controlled by the Kalvelage Holding GmbH .

Key figures

In 2015, the Heidemark Association achieved sales of around 700 million euros . Heidemark is one of the five largest companies in the German poultry industry. In Ahlhorn, around 260,000 tons of turkey meat from 14.7 million animals are produced annually, which makes up a market share of around 45 percent in turkey meat processing. The group of companies employs a total of around 2,000 people, around 1,300 of them in Ahlhorn.

history

The company traces its beginnings back to a turkey slaughterhouse founded in Garrel in 1968 in the legal form of a stock corporation. The indebted company was taken over in 1975 by the trained farmer Reinhold Kalvelage, who at the time owned a compound feed plant in Höltinghausen, in order not to lose his own claims.

Initially, the company was a small business that slaughtered turkeys once a week with little staff, which were then stored frozen as whole pieces in Garrel and only sold before Christmas. From the mid-1970s, fresh turkey cuts were also marketed, and from the late 1970s, boiled sausages and smoked turkey breast were also marketed. At the end of the 1980s, the company expanded, with breaded turkey escalope and marinated fillet steaks entering the self-service market segment. In 1995 the production of schnitzels and smoked products was relocated from Garrel to Vahldorf (Saxony-Anhalt) (around 100 employees). In 1997 a new slaughterhouse was added there (also 100 employees). In 1999 the plant in Vahldorf burned out completely. In 2001, the Kalvelage group came under strong criticism u. a. by Greenpeace and other animal welfare organizations. Above all, they criticized the conditions in which the poultry were kept, which in their opinion were not appropriate to animal welfare, and the addition of antibiotics to the feed. The Kalvelage Group denied the allegations, but after months of Greenpeace campaigns, announced the introduction of a new product line of animals from extensive floor rearing , starting in 2002 with initially 50,000 animals in 18 stalls by six of the 100 contract farmers, as well as the waiver Antibiotic additives and genetically modified soy in the feed. In 2003, the Kalvelage Group merged with the Rothkötter Group (chicken meat producer and compound feed mill) in a joint venture while retaining the Heidemark brand name introduced by Kalvelage; in the following period the range included both chicken and turkey products. In mid-2008 the Rothkötter group sold again under its own name, which means that the companies are no longer under one management.

In April 2007, Velisco Geflügel GmbH & Co. KG sold its turkey poultry production in Ahlhorn (Oldenburg district) to Heidemark. However, Heidemark continued to supply the previous Velisco majority owner Gebr. Nölke GmbH & Co. KG with turkey meat for their poultry sausage production (“Gutfried” brand). Nölke sold his shares in Velisco to the Garrel-based entrepreneur Ulrich Wendeln (producer and trader of animal feed Fleming + Wendeln and oilseed Goldene Mühle , agricultural trade and others). All three corporate groups have been cooperating closely since then. Heidemark and Velisco are currently still producing at the Ahlhorn site for both corporate groups on a transitional basis. According to its own information, in connection with the takeover of the Ahlhorn location, Heidemark "quickly drew the necessary consequences there" in relation to the production quality, which then also "triggered the relocation of production activities to the main plant in Garrel" as a result 230 employees in Ahlhorn were dismissed in July 2007. According to the NGG trade union, these relocation activities were followed by around 70 dismissal protection proceedings by members, as well as other lawsuits from unorganized ex-employees, all of which, however, have been legally invalidated.

Heidemark Vertriebs- und Logistikgesellschaft mbH in Garrel was transferred to Gefluegelpartner.EU GmbH in 2008, which in turn became Food and Carry GmbH in Ahlhorn in April 2013. In autumn 2015 the compound feed plant in Höltinghausen was sold to Agravis .

In 2016 the company was restructured. The until then sole owner Christoph Bernhard (Bernd) Kalvelage transferred 76% of the shares in the company to his son Christopher Kalvelage, the remaining 24% to his son Jan Bernd Kalvelage. The operation for convenience products in Garrel was outsourced as SK-Meat-Vertriebs GmbH, whose owners are in equal parts the daughter Sarah Kalvelage and the former managing director of Geflügelpartner.eu, Herbert Paschertz, through the holding company PK-Holding. After the merger with Heidemark Geflügel Verwaltungs GmbH and GT Geflügeltransporte Verwaltungs GmbH in 2016, the headquarters of Heidemark GmbH are now in Höltinghausen.

criticism

In December 2007, reports from the ARD television magazine “ Panorama ” and the radio station “ NDR Info ” announced that three of the then dismissed employees had given affidavits according to which larger quantities (several tons) of at the Ahlhorn location in April and May 2007 Turkey meat that was already spoiled when it was delivered was repackaged, sometimes mixed with good meat, and then re-labeled. However, these affidavits were forgeries, the Oldenburg District Court found in a judgment on January 29, 2009. The declarations of the employees, who were angry about the dismissal at Heidemark, were made or improved by the NGG, said the presiding judge Rolf Lübben. According to the company, the allegedly spoiled meat came from Poland and was only sold to non-German customers. Based on the statements of the ex-employees, the public prosecutor's office started preliminary investigations into an initial suspicion of a violation of the Food and Feed Code and and three operating sites (Heidemark companies in Garrel and Ahlhorn and a Velisco cold store supplied by Heidemark in Rot am See , Baden- Württemberg). According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture , the food veterinarians in Lower Saxony “have not been able to gain any knowledge that would have confirmed the allegations of the dismissed employees. [...] Everything was in order in the production facilities. ”Samples of meat from the relevant period are currently being examined. Heidemark denies the allegations as "completely irrelevant" and initially spoke of the "machinations of the food, enjoyment and restaurants union " (NGG). However, this wording was later changed on the company's website. In this context, the Oldenburg regional court sentenced the union employee Matthias B. to a fine for defamation against Heidemark in two instances. In addition, Heidemark has filed for damages for around 7 million euros before the civil chamber of the Oldenburg regional court. On January 24, 2011 Matthias B. was acquitted on all counts in the third instance by the Oldenburg Higher Regional Court, whereby neither side of the legal dispute was convicted or had to face any other legal consequences.

The Bremen organization "Tierrechtsbund Aktiv" already filed a criminal complaint against Heidemark in July for violating several animal protection regulations during an animal transport and again in November 2007 for the alleged "catastrophic conditions in a turkey fattening operation" and also presented its own image material from the anteroom of one of the Heidemark Turkey fattening farms in Garrel from April 2006 and from a Heidemark turkey farm in Vechta-Langförden from September and October 2007. However, the allegations by the Animal Rights Association have not yet been confirmed by the veterinary authorities in numerous tests.

The NGG union also accused Heidemark in 2006/2007 of “that the company was taking massive action against the establishment of works councils”. At the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005, fifty employees were laid off because the company's customers had lowered the purchase price per animal by five cents. The jobs that became vacant were instead filled with cheaper Eastern European workers. Any legal aftermath has now ended and both sides have been acquitted.

According to company information on December 10, 2007, the German Institute for Food Technology (DIL) in Quakenbrück came to the preliminary result after an examination of the official counter-sample that it was "sensory and microbial perfect"; an “independent accredited laboratory” additionally commissioned by Heidemark had come to the same conclusion. According to the Oldenburg public prosecutor's office on December 11, 2007, the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) came to the conclusion that the meat samples it examined from March 2007 are all “microbiologically sound”. The investigations also showed that the confiscated meat did not come from Poland and that no meat from Poland was found in the searches that took place. Further investigations into the proceedings have now been discontinued.

In April 2008, Stiftung Warentest examined several samples of marinated poultry meat from various suppliers. The Heidemark product turkey schnitzel in a paprika marinade received the quality rating poor . The reason for this was the detection of Escherichia coli bacteria in two of three test samples and the inadequate declaration.

In 2013, Peta published film recordings from a turkey barn in Großenkneten and a slaughterhouse in Ahlhorn von Heidemark. This documented the bad conditions in the facilities. According to Heidemark, images were not authentic and out of date. According to the food-pleasure-restaurants union , Heidemark blocked the establishment of works councils and replaced the permanent workforce with cheap Eastern European workers. In 2013, Der Spiegel also reported that a few years ago the company was even delisted from some retailers at short notice due to rotten meat rumors. Peta spoke of "industrial cruelty to animals".

Participation in industry organizations

Employees of the Heidemark Association work in various organizations from the agricultural and food industry. For example, Bernd Kalvelage is a member of the advisory board of the "Institute for Structural Research and Planning in Agricultural Intensive Areas " (ISPA) at Vechta University (in his role as managing director of Heidemark Mästerkreis GmbH & Co. KG , which is one of the financial sponsors of the ISPA). The former Heidemark managing director Friedrich Reckmann has been chairman of the steering committee of the Lower Saxony Competence Center for the Food Industry (NieKE) since his constitution on March 4, 2002 , in which the ISPA and the German Institute for Food Technology are involved in the group of other "competent authorities". At times, Franz-Josef Rothkötter was also a member of this committee together with Reckmann. Mr. Reckmann handed over the office at the end of 2009, Mr. Rothkötter was a member until the end of 2006. Heidemark GmbH has not been a member of the NieKE since March 4, 2015.

literature

  • Hans-Wilhelm Windhorst : Turkey meat - a growing market: Lecture at the opening event of the Heidemark production facility in Vahldorf near Magdeburg on May 19, 1995 . Announcements from the University of Osnabrück, Vechta, Institute for Structural Research and Planning in Agrarian Intensive Areas (ISPA), Issue 18, Vechta: ISPA, 1995

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger zu Klampen: Heidemark initiates generation change . Ed .: Nordwest-Zeitung - Oldenburger Nachrichten. Main edition, May 28, 2016.
  2. ^ A b Hermann von Laer: The Oldenburger Münsterland - a modern industrial region , chapter "Heidemark Group in Garrel". In: Yearbook Oldenburger Münsterland, 2002 pp. 296-300 ( PDF file ).
  3. ↑ Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety: Poultry meat cutting companies approved in the Federal Republic of Germany ( Memento of the original dated July 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Status: December 7, 2007). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / btl.bvl.bund.de
  4. ↑ Source: among other things, Lebensmittel-Zeitung, No. 18, May 4, 2007, p. 50 ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.marketing-agrar.de
  5. ↑ Annual financial statements for the business year from 01/01/2016 to 06/30/2016 in the Federal Gazette
  6. ^ Heidemark GmbH: company brochure "Inside Heidemark" . Ed .: Heidemark GmbH. July 2016.
  7. ↑ Heidemark website ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  8. ↑ Kalvelage Holding GmbH: Consolidated financial statements and group management report 2015 in the Federal Gazette
  9. ↑ afz - general butcher newspaper, No. 41, October 10, 2007, pages 19ff. PDF table
  10. ↑ Greenpeace continues campaign , afz - general butcher newspaper, No. 34, 23 August 2001
  11. ↑ Turkey owner fulfills Greenpeace requirement ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Umweltjournal.de, December 12, 2001  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.umweltjournal.de
  12. ↑ Turkey manufacturer Heidemark breaks new ground , Hamburger Abendblatt , October 15, 2002
  13. ↑ Turkey butchers are restructuring , dlz agrarmagazin, April 5, 2007
  14. ↑ Heidemark website ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 6, 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  15. ↑ Corresponding information also in: “No decision in the dispute over dismissals: Labor court adjourn the Heidemark trial”, Münsterländische Zeitung, November 29, 2007.
  16. ↑ An expert opinion from the "Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover " (Dr. Dr. Bernhard Nowak), which Heidemark himself commissioned after complaints had occurred in the summer of 2007, had the "incisions" and the "microbiology" of the meat products Ahlhorn complains, as well as the considerably longer downtimes of the cut meat, inadequate personal hygiene and the spatial conditions, which do not allow production “on the cutting edge of science and technology”. Source: "Customers already complained in the summer: expert opinion proves deficiencies in the Ahlhorn slaughterhouse", Münsterländische Tageszeitung , December 7, 2007
  17. ↑ This wording was later generalized on the website to: “The cutting was concentrated in the main Garrel plant, while all slaughter activities were relocated to Ahlhorn.” Heidemark website, accessed on December 7, 2007 ( Memento of the original of December 8, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  18. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: legal turmoil about rotten meat suspicion )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.aachener-zeitung.de
  19. ↑ Alfons Deter: Judgment: No compensation for Heidemark. TopAgrar Online, September 10, 2015, accessed August 24, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Generation change: Heidemark is repositioning itself. Lebensmittel Zeitung 19 of May 13, 2016. Page 018 / Fresh goods.
  21. ^ Unknown: Company history. (No longer available online.) Heidemark.de, May 1, 2016, archived from the original on August 19, 2016 ; accessed on August 9, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / heidemark.de
  22. ^ NDR press release, December 5, 2007 .
  23. ↑ Article on NWZ-Online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nwzonline.de  
  24. ^ Report on the hearing; OV-Online .
  25. ↑ "German food discounters and retailers have been supplied with HEIDEMARK goods exclusively from German production." HEIDEMARK informs: Public prosecutor will refute the allegations Heidemark website, accessed on December 7, 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2007 in Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  26. ↑ Associated Press pr-inside.com, December 6, 2007 .
  27. ↑ HEIDEMARK informs: Public prosecutor's office will refute the allegations Heidemark website, accessed on December 6, 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  28. ↑ Now it says: “HEIDEMARK has indications that the current allegations in connection with these layoffs and the related labor court disputes, in which the union for food, enjoyment and restaurants is involved, were launched. This with the aim of negatively influencing the previously positive course of the labor law proceedings for HEIDEMARK. Only against this background can it be explained that allegations concerning the first half of 2007 are only now being brought to the media six months later. " Heidemark website, accessed on December 7, 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 8 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [Note d. Author: A few obvious typographical errors in the original were tacitly corrected here during reproduction]. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  29. ↑ Press review Garrel / Münsterländische Tageszeitung: Report on the judgment ( memento of the original of April 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.garrel.de
  30. ↑ http://www.weser-kurier.de/Artikel/Region/Landkreis+Oldenburg/316108/Freisagh+im+Fleischprozess.html
  31. ↑ Press review Garrel / Nordwestzeitung I ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.garrel.de
  32. ↑ Press review Garrel / Nordwestzeitung II ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.garrel.de
  33. ^ Website Tierrechtsbund Aktiv, accessed on December 7, 2007 .
  34. ↑ According to the Oldenburg NGG managing director Matthias Brümmer, source: Fahnder searched Heidemark offices , Oldenburgische Volkszeitung, December 6, 2007. [Note d. Author: A public statement by the company on this is d. Author not yet known].
  35. ↑ According to the statement of the then Heidemark managing director Friedrich Reckmann in a report in the Münsterländische Tageszeitung, which in turn was based on a report by the newspaper Junge Welt from January 16, 2005. [1] .
  36. ↑ Alfons Deter: Judgment: No compensation for Heidemark. TopAgrar Online, September 10, 2015, accessed August 24, 2016 .
  37. ↑ Heidemark website, accessed on December 11, 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heidemark.de
  38. ^ Investigations against those responsible at the Heidemark company in Garrel , press release of the Oldenburg Public Prosecutor's Office No. 54/07 of December 11, 2007.
  39. ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Grill Meat Test 7/2008.
  40. ↑ The horror in the stables Der Spiegel, 24/2013, pp. 66–67.
  41. ↑ Peta denounces turkey torture to Weser-Kurier from June 11, 2013
  42. ^ ISPA-Mitteilungen, Issue 63: Activity Report 2006 , p. 9; Status: January 2007.
  43. ↑ NieKE partners and organizational structure , site NieKE, accessed on 11 December of 2007.
  44. ↑ ISPA-Mitteilungen, Issue 63: Activity Report 2006 , as of January 2007, p. 12.