BSE:
Over Thirty Month rule - Guidance for OTM abattoir approval
To be able to slaughter cattle aged over 30 months (OTM), abattoirs must be OTM approved by the MHS. It is an offence to slaughter OTM cattle in a non-OTM approved abattoir. It is also an offence to slaughter cattle which were born or reared in the UK before 1 August 1996 for human consumption in any abattoir.
The approval processes are explained in more detail in documents which you can access via this page. The approval process involves a series of steps. Each abattoir will complete each step to a different timescale (reflecting the work needed in each plant, and differing commercial priorities).
We recommend that cattle keepers wishing to find out whether their local abattoir(s) are approved to slaughter OTM cattle for human consumption should contact their local abattoir(s) to establish whether they are approved or are intending to become approved in the future.
The list of approved abattoirs (40 KB) is not definitive, and only reflects the known situation on the date shown at the head of the list.
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A list of OTM licensed cutting plants can be found on the Food Standards Agency website.
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The abattoir operator information pack on how to become OTM approved to process bovines aged 30 - 48 months for human consumption (PDF 87KB).
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The abattoir operator information pack on how to become O48M approved to process bovines aged over forty eight months for human consumption (PDF 500KB).
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Q&A guidance for testing laboratories on EU co-financing of BSE testing (PDF 30KB).
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The Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) has published guidance on Bovine Brain Stem Removal and Sampling (PDF 81 KB).
In order to access some of the documents on this page you will require adobe reader. Further information about downloading Adobe Acrobat documents can be found on our help page.
Page last modified:
13 May, 2009