Slaughterhouse pre-designation FAQs

Slaughterhouse designation is an authorisation by the Secretary of State for a slaughterhouse to operate during an outbreak of an exotic animal disease.

It acts as a guarantee that the designated slaughterhouse can operate to a required standard to mitigate the spread of disease.

It also enables the slaughterhouse to comply with legislative requirements and satisfies the conditions of movement licences for animals to be slaughtered at the designated slaughterhouse.

Pre-designation means a slaughterhouse already has the right procedures and facilities in place to keep operating during an exotic disease outbreak. These procedures do not need to be followed unless there is an active outbreak.

In the event of a disease outbreak, the food business operator (FBO) needs to contact the FSA Approvals team to ask them to activate the designation. Defra or the Welsh Government will assess the application and, if appropriate, authorise the designation.

Once the designation is active, the slaughterhouse must comply with all the specified conditions.

Part One of the application form needs to be completed by the food business operator (FBO) and Part Two needs to be completed by the official veterinarian (OV).

Once these are complete, they must be sent to the FSA Approvals team along with the FBO procedures and relevant supporting documentation.

The FSA Authorised Officer will assess the application and, if they are satisfied, approve the pre-designation by completing Part Three.

Part Four is the grant of designation, which is completed by Defra or the Welsh Government during an exotic disease outbreak.

Part Five contains guidance on completing the application and explanatory notes.

Food business operators (FBOs) can apply for pre-designation at any time.

You can request the form from the FSA Approvals team by emailing approvals@food.gov.uk.

There are two levels of designation:

Level 1

Level 1 designation applies to slaughterhouses in protection and surveillance zones that only process animals originating from outside these zones, which are transported in for slaughter (i.e. non-controlled animals).

Requirements of Level 1 designation include (but are not limited to):

• High standards of personnel biosecurity, including handwashing, boot washing and personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Only government-approved disinfectants are used for cleansing and disinfecting (C&D)
• Animal areas are emptied, cleansed and disinfected daily
• Vehicles are cleansed and disinfected before entering, making use of wheel washes, and fully cleaned and disinfected when leaving site
• Animal deliveries are planned to avoid a build-up at any one time
• Animals are only slaughtered with the official veterinarian (OV) on site
• Equipment and personnel are not shared with other pig production or processing premises
• Movement licences (both your eAML2 licence and a Defra movement licence) are checked as appropriate
• No animals may live on site
• No use of field lairage

Level 2

Level 2 designation applies to slaughterhouses that process animals kept inside protection and surveillance zones (i.e. controlled animals) and/or pigs that are seropositive for swine vesicular disease (SVD).

Requirements of Level 2 designation include all the conditions from Level 1, as well as (but not limited to):

• Controlled animals or seropositive pigs must be received and slaughtered separately from non-controlled animals
• The lairage must be emptied of non-controlled animals before controlled animals can be brought in
• Controlled animals or seropositive pigs must be slaughtered without delay
• After controlled animals or seropositive pigs are processed, the area must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected
• Meat and animal by-products (ABP) from controlled animals or seropositive pigs must be kept separate from non-controlled animals
• Surfaces, equipment and vehicles must be cleaned thoroughly after handling products from controlled animals or seropositive pigs
• PPE must be replaced after handling products from controlled animals or seropositive pigs
• Meat and ABP from controlled animals or seropositive pigs must be marked and treated; it cannot be used in raw pet food
• Additional record-keeping requirements, which can be found in the designation forms

Yes.

Yes, if you comply with the segregation of controlled and non-controlled animals, meat and animal by-products (ABP) and all the cleansing and disinfecting requirements.

Pre-designation is reviewed annually.

You must inform the FSA Approvals team immediately if there is any change at the slaughterhouse that may result in any of the information in the designation becoming incorrect or if you can no longer meet any of the requirements set out in the designation.

The FSA Approvals team will assess the impact of these changes and determine whether a further review or a reapplication is required.

Once a notifiable disease outbreak is over, a designation is revoked, but your pre-designation will remain in place.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is progressing work in collaboration with the Veterinary Public Health Programme (VPHP), and it is hoping to pre-designate plants in Northern Ireland soon.

DAERA is reviewing the GB paperwork, which Defra has shared, and will produce DAERA versions for slaughterhouses in Northern Ireland.

These will be compliant with the GB paperwork.

Many Defra-approved disinfectants are not food safe; therefore, the application forms for cutting plants allow the use of non-approved food-safe disinfectants.

You will still need to use Defra-approved disinfectants for vehicles coming on and off the site.

View the list of Defra-approved disinfectants

There must be a guarantee that there will be no cross-contamination between controlled and non-controlled animals or meat. How this is achieved will vary from slaughterhouse to slaughterhouse.

For example, temporary walls or screens would be considered acceptable, as long as staff and equipment are not shared between the sides without thorough cleaning and disinfection.

As a minimum, the lairage must be emptied before controlled pigs are taken in, and it must be emptied, cleansed and disinfected before non-controlled pigs are allowed back in.

You would not be able to have both controlled and non-controlled pigs together in the scald tank, for example.

If cross-contamination by personnel or equipment occurs, the affected meat would have to be treated appropriately.

Defra is happy to consider practical alternatives that will demonstrate that strict separation is complied with and can be replicated.

Email your feedback to exotic.disease.policy@defra.gov.uk.

You are only in direct control of the area within your curtilage, i.e. the immediate area around your slaughterhouse.

Discuss with any adjacent farms that you are (or are planning to become) pre-designated and what this will mean in terms of biosecurity requirements.

During an outbreak, certain activities within zones may be stopped by the Government. However, if you are not within a control zone, there is a limit to the Government’s ability to intervene.

Official veterinarians will be trained on the completion of the pre-designation forms; this will include information on what counts as appropriate separation on the lines and in the chillers.

This form covers:

• African swine fever (ASF)
• Classical swine fever (CSF)
• Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)
• Rinderpest
• Peste des petits ruminants (PPR)
• Swine vesicular disease (SVD)
• Sheep and goat pox

Only slaughterhouses are covered by this pre-designation form.

Cutting plants, cold stores and treatment facilities need to be pre-designated and designated separately, even if they are co-located.

If a co-located cutting plant, cold store or treatment facility intends to process meat from controlled animals, it must also be pre-designated.

Pre-designation is available for cutting plants.

Pre-designation for processing/treatment facilities and cold stores is expected in the coming months.

No, this pre-designation form applies to all types of pig.

Controlled animals are those that have been kept inside a protection or surveillance zone and that are susceptible to the disease.

Non-controlled animals are those that are not susceptible to the disease and those that are susceptible and have not been kept inside a protection or surveillance zone and are only moved into a zone for the purpose of slaughter at a Level 1 or Level 2 designated slaughterhouse.

Controlled meat is produced from controlled animals, after the zones are declared.

Meat does not have to come from an infected premises to be considered controlled.

Non-controlled meat is produced from non-controlled animals.

Yes, as long as:

• It is moved under licence
• The cold store is also designated

The meat goes directly from the cold store to be appropriately treated before going to retail

Meat will be allowed to leave control zones to go directly to designated cold stores, cutting plants or treatment facilities under licence.

It is not yet known if this would be a general or specific licence, as this depends on the scale and stage of the outbreak.

It is likely that we would start with specific licences (which may have multiple moves authorised) and move to a general licence at a later date.

If meat is moved to a designated cold store, it will still need to be treated before going to retail.

Non-controlled meat can leave a slaughterhouse without a licence even if the slaughterhouse is inside a protection or surveillance zone.

For meat from a protection or surveillance zone for diseases other than foot-and-mouth disease, either:

• Those set out in Schedule 2 of the Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (England) Regulations 2008
• Schedule 2 of the Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (Wales) Regulations 2008

View the list of treatments for diseases other than foot-and-mouth disease

For meat from a protection or surveillance zone in the case of foot-and-mouth disease:

• Those set out in paragraph 1 of Schedule 6 of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006
• Paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 of the Foot and Mouth Disease (Wales) Order 2006

View the list of treatments for foot-and-mouth disease

Please note that only one treatment needs to be applied.

Yes, controlled meat must be marked with a special health/identification mark.

This is either:

• A diagonal cross superimposed on the health/identification mark, applied as per the requirements of Regulation 853/2004
• A single oval stamp, 6.5 cm wide and 4.5 cm high containing the following information:
  • On the upper part the letters UK and in the centre the approval number of the establishment
  • Two straight lines crossing at the centre of the stamp in a + shape in such a way that the information is not obscured
  • Information which identifies the vet who inspected the meat
  • The letters must be at least 0.8 cm high, and the numbers must be at least 1 cm high
  • The application of the mark must be supervised by an FSA officer

Untreated fresh meat must be identified with this special health/identification mark to prevent it from going into the retail market before being treated.

The details above apply to all diseases listed on the pre-designation form except for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) as the guidance for FMD is to be updated.

The forms undergoing legal review include this update.

Seropositive pigs are those that are seropositive to swine vesicular disease (SVD), i.e. they have detectable antibodies against the disease.

These pigs must only be slaughtered in designated slaughterhouses.

Raw, untreated meat poses a risk because the African swine fever (ASF) virus can be spread via people and equipment. Contaminated meat, if eaten by other pigs, can also spread the disease.

Separation and treatment regulations are also in place to comply with international trade requirements and to preserve our export markets.

There is a risk of cross-contamination by people, e.g. if the swill feeding ban is violated or packaging is not disposed of properly.

We must be able to demonstrate that we are maintaining separation and that there is no risk of contamination.

We do not allow imports of meat from areas where ASF is circulating without suitable treatment, so we must demonstrate the same diligence to export markets.

There is no requirement for non-controlled meat to be treated.

The new regulations are due to come into force at the end of 2025; they will only apply to England.

Possibly. Whether or not food business operators (FBOs) need to reapply for pre-designation will depend on the changes made to the legislation and how closely the existing application process meets the requirements of the new legislation.

Initially, it is likely that all parts of the premises would be shut down during the investigation.

The speed with which it can be reopened will vary and depend on how separate the pig line is from any other species line and how much equipment and personnel is shared.

It is likely that the full shutdown would last at least 1–2 days.

The pig line would probably not be shut for much longer than this, since the premises where the infected animal came from is of greater importance than the slaughterhouse.

If certain parts of the line are used by more than one species, full cleansing and disinfection according to the ASF rules (in line with The Diseases of Swine Regulations 2014 (as amended)) would apply between pigs and other species being processed to prevent the other species from being contaminated.

This situation is being considered and details will be shared when they are available.

Non-assured producers should speak to their usual slaughterhouse to find out whether they are, or are planning to become, pre-designated and to what level.

No, this will not happen for ASF as the species of tick which can act as a vector for ASF is not found in the UK.

During an ASF outbreak, 3 km protection zones and 10 km surveillance zones would be implemented, regardless of where the premises are.

If the whole of England was placed into a single control zone, it would prevent us from being able to regionalise production. Unaffected areas would then be unable to trade with the EU. However, this is not yet written into legislation.

The pre-designation form also covers other diseases. In the case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), large restricted zones (regional or national) could be implemented to control livestock movements and help mitigate disease spread.