Volume 13: Industry Processes and Controls
5. Knackers, hunt kennels and maggot bait farms
Introduction

5.1 Knacker's yards, hunt kennels and maggot bait farms collect carcasses of diseased or injured animals that cannot be used for human consumption. They process them and dispose of the remains, usually to renderers. Knackers salvage many products of value, such as hides and any meat suitable for pet food. Hunt kennels collect and process these carcasses for food for their hounds. ¹ Maggot bait farms expose the carcasses to flies to encourage them to lay their eggs in the carcasses to produce maggots which are then sold for use as bait by fishermen. ²

5.2 These three types of business are relevant to the BSE story because of the possibility that BSE-infected material might have passed from them to renderers, or directly into feed for animals. All three make commercial use of carcasses that for health reasons cannot be used for human food. On occasions, they humanely slaughter animals that otherwise cannot be moved and dispose of dead animals. ³ The industries also constitute a possible route by which infective tissue could come into contact with humans, especially those employed in them.

5.3 The definition of 'knacker's yard' is common to the Slaughterhouses Act 1974, the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 and the Food Act 1984. According to these, a 'knacker's yard' was 'any premises used in connection with the business of slaughtering, flaying or cutting up animals whose flesh is not intended for human consumption'. ⁴ MAFF and local authorities regarded hunt kennels as falling within the definition only if they carried out business as a knacker. ⁵ For further discussion of this legislation, see vol. 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health.

5.4 The Inquiry heard no evidence that either local authorities or MAFF inspected maggot bait farms or considered them to fall within the definition of knacker's yards.

5.5 This chapter describes in general terms what knackers did in 1986 and how their practices were affected by legislative changes post-BSE. Knackers process many more carcasses and produce much more waste than either hunt kennels or maggot bait farms. The chapter therefore looks principally at knackers, but also points up any significant differences between them and hunt kennels or maggot bait farms. The regulation of knackers arises from animal welfare considerations, and the protection of the environment and human health. These matters are described in vol. 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health.

5.6 In this chapter, a number of references are made to 'sterilisation' of unfit material or of Specified Bovine Offal (SBO). As noted in Chapter 1, 'sterilisation' is used in the same sense as in the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 and the Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989, and does not refer to inactivation of the BSE agent.