Would You Report This?

[2sp_]

Someone nearby is slaughtering cattle on their farm and selling the meat. This is illegal and could be dangerous due to lack of testing for BSE etc, not to mention the welfare issue of the actual slaughter process.

Folk like this give honest, caring farmers a bad name.

Would you report them?

[Brenden]

Good for you 2sp - rightly so.

[Buenchico]

Just for clarification:

>>>due to lack of testing for BSE etc

There has been no requirement to test for BSE since 1 March 2013 (as long as the cattle were healthy and born in the UK (or anywhere else within the EU, except Bulgaria and Romania).

Home slaughter is permitted where the meat is to be consumed by members of the farmer's immediate family living in the same household as him (or, of course, by the farmer himself). It's probably more humane than putting animals through the stress of transport to a slaughterhouse anyway.

However supplying the meat to others (even, say B&B guests at the farm) would contravene the Food Hygiene Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004.

[Daffy6543]

Yes, without question.

[Dee Sa]

this used to happen near a friend of mine in Suffolk, everyone local knew the guy that was doing it and he only sold to people he knew who had to order in advance and apparently it was cheaper but you had to have a large freezer, don't know if it still goes on.

[kvalidir]

This always goes on in rural communities, it's really not unusual and no I wouldn't report him because anyone buying it will be perfectly aware of it.

[2sp_]

kvalidir, it is legal to send your livestock to the slaughter house and then sell the meat that is packaged and returned to you.

When someone slaughters themselves and sells to others, they could be putting these people at risk as the animal could be diseased or still within a withdrawal period for medications.

If you buy meat like this, you have no idea what you are paying for and eating. It's just not right.

Just because people may be aware, doesn't mean that it's safe to do.

[tonyav]

I most certainly would, 2sp_.

[tamborine]

"..A slaughter licence is needed when:you kill animals for other people...."

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/manchester/bus1item.cgi?file=*BADV693-1001.txt

I would send email with cc to Council/trading standards/RSPCA & DEFRA

[kvalidir]

Yes I'm fully aware that all you have said is theoretically possible 2sp, however in practice most farmers who slaughter themselves are far more dilligent than you give them credit for. Slaughterhouses on the other hand work purely on a profit basis and have little concern with either quality of meat or quality of life of the animal prior to slaughter, so I'll stick with the local farmers thanks. What you say would also make far more sense if regulations covering the shooting and selling of wild deer meat also followed those. They don't. If I shoot a wild deer ( including one which has escaped from a farm because someone carelessly left the gate open- oh dear) I can sell the meat to whomsoever I choose without any regulation. The same people who are so worried about a farmer butchering his own cattle would wolf down a haunch of wild venison given half a chance. Where is the sense in that?

[2sp_]

Wild deer are not given antibiotics or other drugs by humans.

And the law is the law. Like it or lump it.

[kvalidir]

You asked for people's opinions and I gave mine. They are different to yours. Like it or lump it ;-)

[2sp_]

kvalidir, I meant that this farmer should like it or lump it...