Animal by-products and food waste

Animal by-products (ABPs) are entire animal bodies, parts of animals, products of animal origin or other products obtained from animals (including fish) that are not intended for human consumption. 

Examples of animal by-products

ABPs include:

• carcasses, butcher and slaughterhouse waste, fallen stock, and dead pets
• manure, digestive content from pigs, cattle and chickens
• ova, embryos and semen which are not intended for breeding purposes
• blood, hides, skins, hooves and horns, feathers, wool, hair and fur
• shellfish and crustacean waste
• food waste of animal or fish origin no longer intended for human consumption - including expired eggs and milk, and used cooking oil

Meat, fish and other material from animals become ABPs when the material is no longer intended for human consumption. This is the case even if the material is still edible.

Detailed guidance on animal by-products is available from the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA).

Exemptions (no ABP rules apply)

ABP controls do not generally apply to:

• raw pet food sold directly to consumers
• liquid milk and colostrum disposed of or used on the farm where it was produced
• wild animals that are not suspected of carrying an infectious disease
• excrement from domestic pets, zoo or circus animals, horse stables or wild animals, eg pigeon droppings
• catering waste, unless it is to be used as animal feed, is going to a composting or biogas plant, or is from international transport, ie from aircraft or ships operating outside the European Union

Catering waste is waste food from:

• restaurants
• catering facilities, eg in offices
• household kitchens

If ABP controls do not apply to your waste, you must comply with your duty of care for business waste and food waste rules when disposing of food and catering waste.

Animal by-products risks to health

ABPs pose potential risks to public and animal health. Improper use of animal by-products has caused outbreaks of serious diseases such as:

• foot and mouth disease
• classical swine fever
• avian influenza
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) 

There are rules in place to control these risks by setting out how you must collect, store, transport, treat, use and dispose of animal by-products.

There are three categories of animal by-products (ABPs), depending on their potential risk to human and animal health. Different rules apply for disposing of waste in each category.

Category 1 animal by-products

Category 1 material presents the highest risk to human and animal health. Such material includes:

• animals or parts of animals considered specified risk material, ie most likely to harbour a disease - for example, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) such as scrapie in sheep, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle
• animals that have been experimented on
• lab/zoo animals
• pet carcasses, diseased wild animals
• catering waste from international transport, ie aircraft and ships
• animal tissue collected when treating waste water from category 1 processing plants

Category 2 animal by-products

Category 2 materials are considered high risk. These include:

• animals slaughtered to prevent the spread of disease
• manure and digestive tract content
• animals and parts of animals which die by means other than slaughtering, eg fallen stock
• animal tissue collected when treating waste water from category 2 processing plants

Category 2 is also the default status of any ABP not defined by regulations as either category 1 or category 3 material.

Category 3 animal by-products

Category 3 materials are considered low risk. They include parts of animals that have been passed fit for human consumption in a slaughterhouse, but which are not intended for consumption.

Category 3 also includes products of animal origin, or foodstuffs containing products of animal origin which are no longer intended for human consumption for commercial reasons, or due to manufacturing or packaging defects or other defects that do not pose a risk to public or animal health.

Mixing different categories of animal by-products

You must keep all three categories of animal by-products separate at all times. If you mix materials from different categories, you must treat the whole mixture as being in the higher risk category. For example, you must treat a mixture containing categories 1, 2 and 3 as a category 1 material.

Detailed guidance on animal by-products is available from the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) .

If you have animal by-products (ABPs), you must send them to approved premises for treatment or disposal. Ideally, different categories of animal by-product should be handled at different sites.

Any operator that uses or disposes of ABPs or derived products must be registered before commencing operations. If you wish to register, read more about ABPs applications.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) maintains a list of premises and their operators in Northern Ireland who have been granted approval for the storage, processing, treatment or disposal of ABPs.

Disposal of category 1 material

You must dispose of category 1 material by:

• direct incineration
• rendering - followed by incineration or landfill

See guidance on incineration and rendering of animal by-products.

International catering waste may be disposed of at a landfill site authorised by the Divisional Veterinary Office.

Disposal of category 2 material

You must dispose of category 2 material by:

• direct incineration
• rendering or other authorised treatment process - followed by incineration, landfill, composting or biogas treatment

You can pressure-render category 2 material and then use it to produce organic fertilisers and soil improvers or use it in an approved composting or anaerobic digestion plant.

You may apply a very limited number of category 2 materials (manure, digestive tract content, milk and milk-based products and colostrum) directly to land without processing provided there is no risk of transmitting a disease.

Disposal of category 3 material

You must dispose of category 3 material by:

• incineration
• rendering - followed by incineration or landfill
• anaerobic digestion
• alkaline hydrolysis plant
• composting or biogas plant

You can render category 3 material to produce pet food and organic fertilisers or soil improvers. You can also use rendered category 3 material to produce animal feedingstuffs, though there are some restrictions in place.

Certain category 3 materials such as raw milk, colostrum and products derived from these can be applied directly to land provided there is no risk of transmitting a disease. Shells from shellfish and eggshells may be applied to land in accordance with national rules.

Detailed guidance on the use and disposal of animal by-products is available from DAERA.

Farmers must dispose of their fallen stock (dead farm animals) responsibly, without 'undue delay', by collecting, identifying and transporting them as soon as reasonably practical. This protects animal health and prevents disease spread, and applies to farm species like sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, poultry, horses and equines.

How to dispose of farmed animal carcasses

Follow these steps based on the animal's age and type:

• For disposal of farmed animal carcasses under 48 months old, contact the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) or your local Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) Divisional Veterinary Office.
• For fallen cattle over 48 months old, contact an approved transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) sampling site within 24 hours of the animal's death to have the animal collected, tested and disposed of.

See further details in DAERA's fallen stock guidance.

Burying animal carcasses

You must not bury animal carcasses or parts of carcasses on your land. The exceptions to this are:

• during outbreaks of notifiable disease if there is no capacity at rendering plants and incinerators
• if transporting the carcasses would spread disease

You must have permission from your local DVO before you bury carcasses. You should contact them for advice during disease outbreaks.

Burying pets and wild animals

You are allowed to bury dead pets on your own premises, in an authorised pet cemetery or landfill site.

Wild animals are not covered by animal by-product controls, unless they are thought to be diseased. Wild animals include:

• wild deer
• wild boar
• rabbits
• foxes
• rats
• squirrels
• moles
• wild birds

If you have killed a wild animal as vermin or to reduce its population, you need to dispose of the carcass appropriately. This includes animals caught in a trap or snare, and animals that have been shot. Wild animal carcasses are classed as waste, and you have a legal duty of care to handle, store and dispose of waste safely, so you don't cause pollution or attract vermin.

Burning animal carcasses

You must not burn any animal carcasses in the open. You can only burn animal carcasses if:

• you are in a designated remote area
• there is a disease outbreak and there is no capacity at rendering plants and incinerators
• if transporting the carcasses would spread the disease

If you burn animal carcasses in an incinerator on your farm, you may need a pollution prevention and control permit or registered exemption depending on the size of your activity.

Food of animal origin (for example meat, fish, dairy or eggs) becomes an animal by-product (ABP) when it's no longer intended for human consumption. This may happen when food is removed from sale because it has passed its 'sell by' or 'use by' date, or due to damage, soiling or contamination of the produce or its packaging.

Waste rules for food businesses

Food businesses in Northern Ireland must present food waste for separate collection if they produce more than 5 kilograms of food waste a week. 

These rules apply to:

• restaurants
• cafes
• hotels
• canteens
• pubs that serve food
• supermarkets
• shops that serve food
• schools
• colleges
• prisons
• nursing homes
• hospitals
• health and social care trusts

To determine how much food waste your business produces, remember that a domestic kitchen food waste caddy holds roughly 5 kilograms of food waste.

Businesses exempt from food waste rules

You are exempt from separate food waste collection rules if:

• your business produces less than 5 kilograms of food waste per week
• you handle international catering waste that falls under category 1 ABP and requires specialist management

Separate food waste collections (for businesses above 5kg/week) must not go to landfill, or be deposited in a lateral drain or sewer.

Catering waste

Catering waste is food waste from restaurants, catering facilities and kitchens. It includes animal by-products (ABPs) such as:

• cooked or processed meat and fish
• bakery products containing meat, fish or dairy products
• cooking oil used for cooking meat or fish

You can send catering waste to an approved composting or biogas facility.

Landfills cannot accept liquid waste so you should collect used cooking oil, store it in suitable containers and have it removed by an authorised waste carrier. Most will go to biodiesel production or incineration to generate electricity.

Catering waste does not include 'former foodstuffs' from retailers or food manufacturers.

Former foodstuffs

Former foodstuffs are foods containing animal origin materials that are no longer intended for human consumption. This includes food that is waste due to manufacturing or packaging defects. Former foodstuffs do not include catering waste from restaurants, catering facilities and kitchens.

Waste from a factory that produces cooked meat is not catering waste - it is former foodstuff (category 3 ABPs). Examples of category 3 ABPs include:

• raw meat, fish and eggs
• cooked meat and fish
• meat and fish products that require cooking before consumption
• catering waste other than international catering waste

You must dispose of category 3 ABPs at approved premises, by rendering or incineration, or disposal at an approved biogas or composting plant. Generally, you cannot send category 3 animal by-products to landfill.

Read more about animal by-product categories.

International catering waste from ships and planes

International catering waste is waste food from aircraft and ships that have called at airports or ports outside the European Union. It is classed as high risk material (category 1 ABP). You must dispose of it by incineration, rendering or burial in an approved landfill site.

Read more about disposing of animal by-products.

Detailed guidance on animal by-products from food and feed businesses is available from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

You must collect and transport animal by-products (ABPs) in leak-proof, closed containers or sealed new packaging. You must keep each category of by-product separate and clearly labelled to prevent contamination.

Who can transport animal by-products

Only use authorised carriers, registered with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), to remove your waste. There are two registration tiers:

• lower tier - carriers transporting ABPs only
• upper tier or broker - carriers transporting ABPs plus other waste types

Always ask for proof of registration (certificate or letter) before using any carrier.

Commercial documents for transporting animal by-product 

All movements of ABPs, except manure, need a commercial document. This is different from a waste transfer note or hazardous waste consignment note.

The commercial document should include:

• a record of the origin and quantity of the material
• a description of the material, including the ABP category
• the date of transport
• the name and address of the carrier and receiver
• end use (composting, pet food, etc
• treatment approval numbers (if applicable)

If you export ABPs or send them to be processed into pet food, you may need a health certificate from your local Divisional Veterinary Office.

All original documents should accompany the ABPs during transit. The receiver of the ABPs must keep the original documents. The waste producer and the waste carrier must keep copies. You must keep all records for at least two years.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has guidance on the requirements concerning the transportation, documentary and record keeping requirements for animal by-products.

Loading and unloading animal by-products

Loading and unloading of ABPs should be done inside a building where possible for:

• slaughter and butchery waste
• tipping animal by-products onto the floor or into a hopper

If indoor loading and unloading is not possible, you can 'dock' your vehicle to the building and transfer ABPs under cover directly to or from the building. This is allowed for loading intact animal carcasses.

You may get permission to unload certain ABPs in outside yards in very limited and tightly controlled circumstances.

For more information, read DAERA's guidance note on loading and unloading ABPs.

If you store animal by-product (ABP) waste for routine collection, you must keep it separated from other waste and stored in clean, sealed, leak-proof containers for each animal by-product category.

Label all containers with the category of the material as follows:

• category 3 material - not for human consumption
• category 2 material - not for animal consumption
• category 1 material - for disposal only

Never store ABPs where they can contaminate food or attract animals, pets or wild birds.

Use authorised waste carriers

Only use the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA)-authorised carriers for the storage, processing, treatment or disposal of animal by-product waste. Read DAERA's guidance note on activities that may require approval or registration.

Complete a commercial document (not a waste transfer note) for each collection and record the collection date, a description and category of the material, and the details of the waste carrier and receiver.

Keep copies of all documents for at least two years. You may need to show them during an inspection.

Additional rules

Clean and disinfect containers after each waste collection.

Have an emergency plan in case of, for example freezer breakdown or product recall, to avoid destroying large quantities of animal by-products.

Do not send to landfill any packaging that is significantly contaminated with animal by-product material, eg bloodstains. Treat it and dispose of it as an ABP.

Finally, remember that international catering waste is classed as a category 1 ABP and therefore requires specialist management - see disposing of animal by-products.