The Clean Livestock Policy
Food safety regulations for butchers
Information and guidance on food hygiene and labelling regulations for butchers.
If you run a butchery business, there are several rules that you must comply with.
What is 'meat'?
The definition of meat is 'skeletal muscle of mammalian and bird species recognised as fit for human consumption with naturally included or attached tissue'. The definition does not include 'mechanically separated meat'. Regulations set limits for the amount of fat and connective tissue (rind, tendon, sinew and skin) allowed.
Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID declarations)
If you sell any food loose and not prepacked that contains 'meat' as defined above, you must label it with a QUID declaration.
You do not need to give a QUID if the ingredients:
- have only been used in small quantities as flavouring
- are used in varying proportions and can be labelled as fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs or spices (such as in a vegetable soup)
- already have a quantity shown on the label as a ‘drained net weight’
You also do not need a QUID for ingredients that can vary in quantity without altering the character of the food or distinguishing it from similar foods. For example, you do not need to show a QUID for flour in a flour tortilla.
You must give the meat QUID when you sell loose or pre-packed-for-direct-sale products that contain meat and other ingredients (except in a catering environment). You must display the QUID on a label on the food or display it clearly where the customer can see it when they are choosing the product.
On pre-packed food, you must give this information either:
- as a percentage in brackets in the ingredients list after the name of the ingredient, for example ‘pork (80%)’
- in or next to the name of the food, for example ‘containing 80% pork’
Food safety advice for butchers
Butchers must comply with the same food hygiene laws as other food businesses. This includes following Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles.
Certain meat products must also meet marketing standards for food and drink products that set rules on quality, classification and labelling.
Under current operating arrangements for Northern Ireland, food products placed on the NI market continue to follow EU rules. If you move pre-packed retail goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, there are special movement and labelling rules under the Windsor Framework and the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme. You should follow the latest guidance on that scheme if it applies to your business.
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The Clean Livestock Policy
Overview of the cleanliness and hygiene regulations for cattle and sheep sent to slaughter.
In Northern Ireland, slaughterhouse operators should have their own clean livestock policy. This should be part of their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.
The policy is designed to make sure that all cattle and sheep presented for slaughter conform to an acceptable level of hygiene. This helps to prevent food poisoning caused by dirt or faeces on the animal's coat. Excrement and mud on coats could contaminate meat inside the slaughterhouse.
Inspection of animals
The responsibility for the production of safe food lies with the food business operator. You must use appropriate controls to show you are managing food safety. This includes cleanliness of animals at slaughter.
The slaughterhouse operator inspects animals at the ante-mortem stage for cleanliness and dryness. This check is against their own HACCP based procedures. These procedures will detail the actions they take when excessively dirty animals are presented for slaughter. This may include not slaughtering the animal until remedial action has been taken to meet the required standard of cleanliness. This is to help prevent the contamination of meat and reduce risks to public health.
Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) officials verify that the slaughterhouse operator carries out these checks. This helps ensure safe food on behalf of the Food Standards Agency in slaughterhouses in Northern Ireland.
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Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles
Overview of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point or HACCP principles and how they apply to meat hygiene.
The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles ensure the production of safe food.
HACCP is an internationally recognised system for food safety management. A food safety management system is a practical tool to control the food production environment. It helps you produce safe food by managing food safety, hygiene and processes to ensure the food produced is safe.
Food business operators must ensure that the food they produce is safe to eat. If you run a food business, then you must ensure you put in place effective food safety management procedures and working practices. You must be able to prove that you have done so.
To produce safe food for consumers, you must identify all food production safety hazards. You must then remove or reduce the hazards to an acceptable level. These food safety hazards may be biological, physical or chemical.
Seven HACCP principles
The HACCP system is recognised as the system for food safety management world-wide. It is a preventative approach to food safety based on the following seven principles:
- Identify any hazards that you must prevent, remove or reduce to acceptable levels
- Identify the critical control points (CCPs) at the step at which control is essential to prevent or remove a hazard or to reduce it to acceptable levels
- Establish critical limits at CCPs
- Establish procedures to monitor the CCPs
- Establish corrective actions you need to take if a CCP is not under control
- Establish procedures to verify whether the above procedures are working well
- Establish documents and records to show the effective application of the above measures
Controlling hazards
The HACCP approach provides a systematic way of identifying food safety hazards and controlling them. This involves the following four steps:
- plan - decide what you need to do to ensure food safety and write it down
- do - carry out your plan of action to maintain food safety
- check - monitor your HACCP activity against your HACCP plan and record your checks
- act - take action when food safety is at risk and write it down
Small food businesses in the UK can use the Food Standard Agency’s MyHACCP tool (free of charge) to work through the process of developing a food safety management system based on HACCP principles.
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Rules for the slaughter of livestock and wild game
Guidance on food hygiene rules for slaughterhouses, those carrying out home slaughters and shooting wild game.
There are certain rules you should follow when slaughtering livestock. There are specific rules for slaughterhouses and 'home slaughters'. Different rules apply to the shooting of wild game.
Food chain information rules for slaughterhouses
EU food hygiene rules require slaughterhouse operators to 'request, receive, check and act upon' food chain information (FCI) for livestock sent for slaughter for human consumption. This applies to cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and horses for food use.
If you move pre-packed retail goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, there are special movement and labelling rules under the Windsor Framework and the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme. Check the latest official guidance to see if these rules apply to your business.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has produced food chain information guidance to help food businesses intending to slaughter animals for food.
Home slaughter of livestock
In some cases, livestock may be slaughtered outside an approved slaughterhouse.
The term 'home slaughter' means the slaughter of a livestock animal by the animal's owner outside of an approved slaughterhouse on their property. This must be for their own personal consumption, or for consumption by members of their immediate family. They must comply with Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) legislation and other rules regarding animal by-products.
Home slaughter is different from 'private slaughter'. This is where the owner of the animal sends it to an approved slaughterhouse. In private slaughter, government inspectors check the carcass, health mark it and the food business returns it to the owner.
If you have any doubt about the legal status of the slaughter, and how this may affect the meat's hygiene:
- contact the FSA for advice
- find your local council in Northern Ireland for guidance
Hygiene regulations for wild game
Any business involved in the shooting or supply of wild game for human consumption has a responsibility to ensure they maintain high levels of meat hygiene and produce safe food at all times.
These businesses will be required to:
- ensure that people hunting and handling wild game meat have the appropriate training
- comply with traceability requirements
- ensure that the game is stored, prepared and transported at hygienic temperatures
In addition, these businesses may be required to:
- register with their local council
- apply for approved game handling establishment status if processing wild game at a place of business and if supply is wider than the supply of small quantities to the final consumer or to retail outlets directly supplying the final consumer
The FSA has produced a wild game guide. This provides food hygiene regulations advice for people who shoot wild game and supply it directly to the final consumer or retail.
The British Quality Wild Venison standard
Wild venison producers and processors can apply to the national wild venison quality assurance scheme.
This voluntary scheme is open to applicants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and ensures a set of audited standards are met throughout the supply chain, from forests to the processing chain, to supermarket shelves.
The standard only relates to venison from wild deer that are legally culled for human consumption and are considered to be wild under the applicable laws in the UK.
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