British Meat Processors Association
British Meat Processors Association

Animal health & welfare

BMPA members take their responsibility for the welfare of animals in their care extremely seriously and all follow stringent rules governing how animals are treated.

Many of our member sites are the forefront of abattoir design with facilities designed to house the animals and help them move around the site with ease and without any pain, distress or suffering. 

As part of ensuring the welfare of animals at abattoirs, BMPA wrote the red meat industry Guide to Good Practice: Welfare at Slaughter. The Guide can be downloaded below and is based on the requirements of the current EU regulations as well as regulations specific to each of the UK devolved administrations, links to all of which can be found below.

In addition, DEFRA has published a guide which explains the specific requirements of EC Regulation 01/2005. This document is particularly useful as it clarifies what transporters, farmers, and slaughterhouses should be doing including the requirements for formal training and competence certification.

Responsibility for animal health lies primarily with the farmer, but both the Food Standards Authority and abattoirs take a role in passing information back to farms about any animal diseases or problems that were found after they entered the abattoir.  They also play a big part in ensuring that any animals with health problems that may endanger public health do not move into the human food chain. 

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