[bluetooth18]

Does anyone have a contact for Mobile Slaughter Service please?

If it helps I'm in Northamptonshire - 3 pigs for home consumption.

Many thanks

[bloomer]

it is illegal to have someone come to your property and kill stock for your consumption, you can either do it all yourself or they have to go to the abattoir.

[bluetooth18]

Im confused Trading standards website states:

Can I use a licensed slaughterman to kill the animals?
You are able to use a licensed slaughterman to kill the animals but they are not allowed to dress or butcher the animals. It would also be unlawful to have the animal slaughtered anywhere else away from your property other than in an approved slaughterhouse (which could include a licensed mobile slaughterhouse).

Under EU Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 it is an offence to sell, or to supply to another person, meat that has not been slaughtered and health-marked in a licensed abattoir. It is for this reason that meat that has been slaughtered on-farm can only be consumed by the owner and their immediate family.

[bloomer]

http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/meatregsguid/home-slaughter-livestock/livestockguidance/home-killguide.pdf


see page 12, item 28, its at the top of the page...

[john and helen]

so thats two official bodies that give different advice….
i was always lead to believe, they can kill and gut but not butcher, and yes, for home use only..
there is actually a service down here that do home kill

[bloomer]

part of the problem appears to be different authorities assess it differently as well.

[Anke]

Actually three pigs is probably more cost (and time) effective to get done at the abattoir, it will take forever to get those bristles off...

If you then want to butcher them at home that's maybe another question, but again in summer with trying to keep the meat cold it (IMO) works best too get it done by a professional and to make sausages and bacon at home.

We have done homekill for individual goats and home-butchering (but abattoir kill) for more than two goats/sheep (in winter) but the time factor is quite an important one... We always get our pigs butchered, the carcasses are just too heavy to cart around...

[oaklandspigs]

so thats two official bodies that give different advice….
i was always lead to believe, they can kill and gut but not butcher, and yes, for home use only..
there is actually a service down here that do home kill

The 'guidance' went from being helpful to dishonest by omission between the two versions issued in 2009 and 2011.  No relevant  laws changed in between, but when they revised in 2011, they just omitted a para.

The 2009 version says

'It is unlawful for a farmer to use the services of an itinerant slaughterman both to slaughter his animal and to dress it. This is because the slaughterman would be supplying goods (i.e. a dressed carcase) in the course of his business. However, if the slaughterman did no more than kill the animal, leaving the farmer to dress and cut the carcase, the Courts might be less likely to conclude that the slaughterman was supplying goods (and more likely to be supplying services). If so, this activity might be held to be lawful, (i.e. the EU Food Hygiene Regulation 853/2004 would not prohibit it) although the issue is far from clear. The EU TSE controls would in any event apply.'

The 2011 version says

'It is unlawful for a farmer to use the services of an itinerant slaughterman both to slaughter his animal and to dress it. This is because the slaughterman would be supplying goods (i.e. a dressed carcase) in the course of his business.'

Note the omission of the most useful part of the guidance !!!

The Trading Standards site is just quoting the earlier guidance.

Bluetooth18 - can you post the relevant link to your trading standards site, it would be useful to quote it !

[shygirl]

if the pig is split lengthways then you can carry it. the carcuss will go off quickly in this weather.