Welfare of meat chickens and meat breeding chickens: guidance

Annex 1: Other legislation affecting meat chickens, meat breeding birds and hatcheries

The main requirements are summarised below. This does not represent an exhaustive list. Some legislation is regularly updated and/or amended, so the most recent version should be referred to.  All UK legislation can be found at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk

Transport

For information on transporting meat chickens see:

• Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 (on the protection of animals during transport and related operations)
• The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Scotland) Regulations 2006
• and the Scottish Government’s summary of the relevant requirements^[3]

Slaughter

For information on welfare at slaughter and killing meat chickens see:

• Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 (on the protection of animals at the time of killing)
• The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012

Free range and organic systems

For poultry meat marketing criteria (eg requirements for use of special marketing terms such as ‘free range’) including stocking density, feed requirements, range access, and minimum age at slaughter see:

• Commission Regulation (EEC) No 543/2008 (laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards the marketing standards for poultrymeat)

The requirements under the above are enforced in Scotland by The Poultrymeat (Scotland) Regulations 2011.

For organic production requirements see:

• Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) no 2092/91)
• Commission Regulation (EEC) No 889/2008 (on implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control)

The requirements under the above are enforced in the UK by the Organic Products Regulations 2009.

Food hygiene

For specific hygiene rules on the hygiene of foodstuffs see:

• Regulation (EC) 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin)

Section III of Annex II of this Regulation requires food business operators operating slaughterhouses, as appropriate, to request, receive, check and act upon food chain information as set out in this Section in respect of all animals, other than wild game, sent or intended to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

Diseases and record keeping

See the following:  

• The Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Order 2007

Article 5 of the above Order requires, amongst other things, that those keeping 50 birds or more must notify the Scottish Ministers in writing of the species of poultry kept at the premises, the husbandry system in use at the premises, the number of each species of poultry usually kept at the premises, the number of each species of poultry with access to open air, details of any  seasonal stocking variations which might result in significant differences in the number or species of poultry on the premises and the presence on (or in the vicinity of) the premises of any body of water which attracts wild birds. There are also certain notification requirements in the event of certain changes in circumstances (eg an increase or decrease of 20% or more in the number of each species of poultry usually kept at the premises or in the number of each species of poultry with access to the open air). 

• The Control of Salmonella in Poultry (Breeding, Laying and Broiler Flocks) (Scotland) Order 2009 

Amongst other things, this Order requires the occupier of any holding on which one or more broiler flocks (chickens bred for meat) are kept to notify the Scottish Ministers of certain information (including the identification of the flock and number of birds) and to provide advance notice of the arrival of every broiler flock. The time periods during which such notifications must be provided are set out in the Order. The Order also makes provision for sampling for salmonella, record keeping and prohibition on the use of antimicrobials to control salmonella.

• The Diseases of Poultry (Scotland) Order 2003

Article 4 of this Order requires that certain measures and restrictions be implemented where it is known or suspected that a bird or carcass has “designated disease”. Newcastle disease is included as a “designated disease”. Article 15 requires that any person who owns or keeps any flock of poultry consisting of at least 250 birds on premises must keep certain records.

• The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013

The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 and The Veterinary Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2014 require records to be kept on medicine usage, administration and disposal of unused medicines. Records must be kept for at least 5 years. 

Note: The Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2010 require that a record be maintained of the medicinal treatment given to animals and the number of mortalities found on each inspection of animals.  

The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 recording requirements describe in detail what must be recorded, how long the records must be kept and includes the requirement for records of when and where medicines are acquired in addition to the requirement for records at the time of administration. 

Animal by-products

For the requirements on storage, transport and disposal of animal by-products such as dead carcases, manure and litter see:

• Council Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 (laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation)
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011 (implementing Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and implementing Council Directive 97/78/EC as regards certain samples and items exempt from veterinary checks at the border under that Directive Text with EEA relevance)

The Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 provide for enforcement of these two sets of regulations regarding animal by-products.