New guidance on cattle slaughter

Sunday 2 October 2005

Guidance on the emergency slaughter of cattle eligible for the food chain is published this week.

The guidance is intended for vets and farmers to help them make the right decisions when dealing with an animal that has to be slaughtered on farms.

It has been developed to meet the requirements of the new EU Food Hygiene Regulations being introduced in January 2006. The main changes on emergency slaughter guidance are that:

• only healthy animals that have suffered an accident on farm and are unable to be transported for welfare reasons, will be eligible for the food chain
• the health conditions for cattle eligible for human consumption will be more stringent - this will be reflected in the veterinary declaration (equivalent of the current 'Schedule 19' certificate)
• vets must record the time and date of slaughter on the farm

However, the final decision on whether or not any animal, including emergency slaughter cattle, can enter the food chain will depend upon the satisfactory outcome of the post-mortem inspection by the Official Veterinary Surgeon at the abattoir.

With the forthcoming changes to the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule, allowing older cattle back into the food chain for the first time since 1996, the new guidance is particularly important as the majority of animals subject to emergency slaughter are over 30 months.

A booklet has been produced by the British Cattle Veterinary Association, with the assistance of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Meat Hygiene Service and UK Rural Affairs Departments.The booklet is being distributed to vets through both the BCVA and the Veterinary Times.

Alick Simmons, Veterinary Director at the FSA, said: 'The purpose of this booklet is to provide clear guidance to vets about emergency slaughter and whether an animal is fit to enter the food chain. Also making this booklet available to farmers will mean there is better understanding by all parties of the conditions to be considered when making decisions about emergency slaughter on-farm.

'Vets play a key role right across the food chain in ensuring meat is produced safely and their role is especially important in decisions about emergency slaughter of animals for human consumption.'

Leaflets outlining the key points of the new requirements will also be distributed to all farmers and cattle owners by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) during October, and will include a contact number if farmers wish to obtain the more detailed booklet.

The majority of cattle requiring emergency slaughter are older animals. Since the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule was introduced in 1996 – banning older cattle from the food chain – OTM animals deemed fit for human consumption have been disposed of under the OTM Scheme and compensation paid. With the new EU Food Hygiene regulations it is anticipated that the number of animals slaughtered on farm and eligible for the food chain will be very significantly lower than the number currently processed under the OTM Scheme.

In making its recommendations on the effectiveness of the BSE testing system to replace the OTM Rule, the Food Standards Agency Board set a number of prerequisites before testing could be implemented. These included that guidance on the new conditions for emergency slaughter of animals intended for the food chain be disseminated before rule change, currently set for 7 November 2005.