Volume 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health
3. Red meat hygiene at the slaughterhouse
Regulation of the slaughterhouse
Introduction
The main provisions of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974
Licences
Bylaws
Regulations

Introduction

3.7 The Slaughterhouses Act 1974 applied to England and Wales and consolidated earlier legislation relating to slaughterhouses and knacker's yards. Its purpose was, firstly, to regulate and control the provision of slaughterhouses and knacker's yards and, secondly, to regulate the slaughter of animals.

3.8 The Act set out the functions of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, local authorities ¹ and authorised officers. The Minister had the power to make Regulations for securing humane conditions of slaughter in slaughterhouses and knacker's yards. Slaughterhouse and meat hygiene were regulated by the Food and Drugs Act 1955, and its successors, the Food Act 1984 and the Food Safety Act 1990. These are discussed in Chapter 4 below. Regulations under the 1974 Act were to be made by Statutory Instrument and were subject to the negative resolution procedure. ² Before making Regulations, the Minister was required to consult representative organisations likely to be affected.

3.9 Local authorities were responsible for inspecting premises, licensing slaughterhouses and knacker's yards, making bylaws and, where the duty was not imposed on some other authority, execution and enforcement of the Act and regulations made under it. ³ Enforcement was to be by authorised officers who were given the right of entry to premises at any reasonable time.

The main provisions of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974

3.10 A slaughterhouse was defined as 'a place for slaughtering animals whose flesh is intended for sale for human consumption, and includes any place available in connection therewith for the confinement of animals while awaiting slaughter there or for keeping, or subjecting to any treatment or process, products of the slaughtering of animals there'. ⁴ A knacker's yard was 'any premises used in connection with the business of slaughtering, flaying, or cutting animals whose flesh is not intended for human consumption'. ⁵ Both were licensed under the 1974 Act. For the legislative and enforcement requirements specific to knacker's yards, see Chapter 5, which deals with the treatment of material unfit for human consumption.

3.11 Under Part I of the Act, it was an offence for the occupier of any premises to use them, or allow them to be used, as a slaughterhouse or knacker's yard unless he held a licence granted by the local authority. ⁶ Such a licence lasted for no more than 13 months and, in considering whether it should be granted, the local authority had to decide if it was satisfied that the premises met, or would in a reasonable time meet, food safety regulations and any bylaws applicable to them. However, the local authority could not grant a licence before it received a report on the premises from one of its officers. ⁷

3.12 Part II of the Act, firstly, prohibited and made it an offence to slaughter an animal other than instantaneously by means of a mechanically-operated instrument or by electricity, rendering the animal insensible to pain until death occurred. The Act also enabled Regulations to be made by the Minister, after consultation with organisations representing affected interests, to prescribe other means of rendering the animal insensible to pain. Exceptions for the Jewish and Muslim faiths were permitted.

3.13 Secondly, no animal was permitted to be slaughtered or stunned in a slaughterhouse or knacker's yard except by someone holding a current licence for that purpose. Such licences had to specify the kind of animals which could be slaughtered or stunned and the types of instruments to be used; they were in force for no longer than a year, and could be used in any local authority area. The Minister could make Regulations prescribing qualifications for a licence holder.

3.14 Thirdly, this Part of the Act enabled the Minister to make Regulations to secure humane conditions and practices in connection with the slaughter of animals in slaughterhouses and knacker's yards. These Regulations could in particular specify the construction, layout and equipment of such premises and prescribe the conditions to be observed in the confinement and treatment of animals awaiting slaughter and the qualifications of slaughterers holding licences. ⁸

Licences

3.15 In 1986, the granting of slaughterhouse licences was subject to compliance with certain requirements of:

1. relevant Regulations under the Food and Drugs Act 1955 and its successor, the Food Act 1984, ⁹ relating to the observance of 'sanitary and cleanly conditions and practices' in connection with the sale of food for human consumption or the importation, preparation, transport, storage, packaging, wrapping, exposure for sale, service or delivery of food intended for sale or sold for human consumption; ¹⁰
2. bylaws made by a local authority to secure the sanitary condition and proper management of slaughterhouses and knacker's yards, and the maintenance of records of animals brought into the yard and their disposal; and
3. Regulations under section 38 of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 relating to the construction, layout and equipment of slaughterhouses and knacker's yards and the conditions under which animals were kept and slaughtered.

3.16 In deciding whether to grant a licence, the local authority ¹¹ had to decide if the applicant was a fit and proper person, and could refuse to grant a licence, or revoke a current licence, if it decided this was not the case. Similarly, enforcement of this Part of the Act was the duty of the local authority, although the powers of entry to ascertain any contravention of the Act or Regulations could be exercised by either an officer of the Minister or of the local authority for the area in which the premises were situated.

Bylaws

3.17 The Act enabled local authorities to make bylaws to ensure that slaughterhouses and knacker's yards were kept in a sanitary condition and were properly managed. Such bylaws had to be confirmed by the Minister. In the case of knacker's yards, the local authority could require the licensee to keep records of animals brought into the yard and of the way in which they were disposed. ¹² However, once a slaughterhouse licence was in force, the local authority could not use bylaws to penalise any licensee. Very few such bylaws were in fact made, and these invariably followed closely the model issued by MAFF and imposed hygiene and record-keeping requirements.

3.18 The Act enabled local authorities to provide and manage public slaughterhouses, though not public knacker's yards. The bylaw-making powers did not apply to such public slaughterhouses. ¹³

Regulations

3.19 After consultation with organisations representing the interests concerned, the Minister could make Regulations to secure humane slaughter conditions and practices. ¹⁴ Officers of the Minister, or officers appointed by local authorities, could enter premises to establish whether the Act or any Regulations or bylaws made under it had been contravened. ¹⁵