Selling meat into the trade

Farmers, butchers and small meat businesses sell into the trade in different ways. A farmer may send cattle to an abattoir and be paid on the carcase. A butcher may start supplying another shop. Each route comes with its own paperwork.

Cattle sold on the carcase

Under the Rural Payments Agency's Beef Carcase Classification scheme, an abattoir in the scheme must dress, categorise, classify and weigh each beef carcase within 1 hour of slaughter. Only a qualified, licensed classifier can classify it.

The abattoir must tell whoever sent the animal for slaughter the results, in writing or electronically. An invoice or an attached document will do. It must give the classification, the category, the weight of the carcase and whether that is a warm or a cold weight, and the dressing specification used.

It should also give the kill number and the date of slaughter. If automatic grading was used, the abattoir must say so.

What the dressing specification means

A carcase is dressed to one of three set specifications, called Standard, EC Reference and UK. They differ in which fat is trimmed off, from the crown fat to the thin skirt. The UK Specification takes off the most. An abattoir must not use a dressing specification of its own.

The category records the animal's sex and age. Category D, for example, is a female that has calved.

Prices across the market

Each week, abattoirs that slaughter more than 20,000 cattle a year, of 8 months or older, must report to AHDB the prices they pay suppliers for cattle bought on a deadweight basis. The Rural Payments Agency says the information is used to decide whether the industry needs support.

Supplying another business

In food law, a shop selling to its own customers is a retailer. Food hygiene law sets extra rules for meat and other foods of animal origin, and in general they do not cover retail. When the shop starts supplying another business, the rules apply again.

One exception is supply to other retailers only, where it is a marginal, localised and restricted activity. Beyond that, the rules apply in full.

Which body approves depends on the work. In England and Wales, a cutting plant needs the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) approval. A business making mince or meat preparations needs approval from its council. Most other food businesses must register with their council instead.

The identification mark

Food from an approved premises carries an identification mark, usually on its wrapping, packaging or label.

The FSA says the mark has no minimum or maximum size. It must be a legible and indelible oval, with characters that are easy to read. On the Great Britain market, the UK Government recommends the full name "United Kingdom" where that is practical.

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