Ilonka van der Wagt

Best Star Meat supplies pork to other Van Loon Group businesses and to industrial customers. In addition, in its role of certifi ed supply chain manager for the Beter Leven (better life) quality label, it maintains all our contacts with the livestock farmers who are contracted to Best Star Meat. Best Star Meat is passionate about working with meat. Every day, we work together in a tightly-knit team to provide our customers with the best raw materials.
Pork at its Best (VOB) originated from a passion for consistent quality, sustainability and cooperation. Van Loon Group took the initiative for Pork at its Best (Dutch: Varken op z’n Best), the innovative supply chain concept for improving the quality of our pork, making the supply chain transparent, sustainable and controllable. The roll-out takes place under the direction of Best Star Meat. With this concept, Best Star Meat takes an extra step in terms of sustainability, animal welfare and animal health compared to IKB and the Beter Leven quality mark, for example.
By working together with chain partners and establishing long-term sustainable relationships, a positive result can be achieved for all those involved in and near the chain and costs can be reduced integrally. Partners were sought for VOB to help shape the chain and work together on the set goals and ambitions.
Objective
''The objective of VOB is to increase the quality of pork and make the chain transparent, sustainable and controllable, and to increase returns for pig farmers.''
VOB does this using an integrated approach with selected chain partners: genetics, feed suppliers, veterinarians, pig farmers, traders, transporters, slaughterhouses, processors and buyers.
Best Star Meat manages the VOB chain. Chain management involves coordinating, supervising and controlling pork (meat) production, including the associated information flows. Essential to a chain is optimal coordination between the partners in chain; chain partners must all work together to make the chain work as smoothly as possible. As chain manager, Best Star Meat links the various links in the chain, from pig farmer (primary farm) to buyer and all the links that may be in between.
The VOB concept consists of four distinctive elements: (1) quality management, (2) sustainability, (3) chain information system and (4) price model.
In 2021 we launched the Pork Print Tool in collaboration with HAS University of Applied Sciences. Van Loon Group uses this tool to monitor the carbon footprint of our pork production businesses. The carbon footprint indicates the amount of greenhouse gasses produced for each kilo of pork, from birth to slaughter. The total footprint from birth to slaughter has been mapped for 38 pig producers.