SUMMARY
New amendments to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 on on-farm slaughter
The European Commission published COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2024/1141 of 14 December 2023 amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards specific hygiene requirements for certain meat, fishery products, dairy products and eggs. Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 allowed a limited number of ungulates to be stunned and bled on-farm under specific circumstances. These circumstances risked human and/or animal injury, such as farmers handling ungulates reared without regular handling. The regulation now covers sheep, goats, and other ungulates reared under any housing condition. The slaughter of three domestic bovine animals, other than bison, three domestic solipeds, six domestic porcine, or nine ovine or caprine animals may be carried out, at the same time, on the farm where authorised and when meeting specific requirements. Some of these requirements include that the animal is otherwise healthy but unfit for transport, a veterinarian completes an ante-mortem inspection, the farmer follows transport and refrigeration regulations, and a slaughterhouse has agreed to accept the carcase and has received documentation prior to a post-mortem inspection. This change will be in effect as of 9 May 2024.
The official regulation can be found here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/1141/oj