Handle animal by-products from your food business

The rules here are for England.

When food becomes an animal by-product

Food of animal origin, or food that contains it, becomes an animal by-product when the person managing your site decides it is no longer for people to eat. That might be because it is past its date, damaged or spoiled. The decision cannot be reversed. All former foodstuffs are Category 3 animal by-products.

Sort former foodstuffs by risk

How you can dispose of a former foodstuff depends on its risk group:

• higher risk, such as raw meat, fish and seafood, raw eggs, partly cooked meat, sushi and cured meats, cannot go to landfill or to farm animal feed, and you must not cook them to change their status
• medium risk, such as fully cooked meat and fish products, ready meals, meat pies and pizzas, and cooked seafood, can go to landfill but not to farm animal feed
• lower risk, such as bakery and confectionery without meat or fish, milk products and egg products, can go to landfill or to farm animal feed

As a retailer, distributor or manufacturer you can send up to 20kg of raw or partly cooked meat, fish or shellfish products to landfill each week. That is a weekly limit, not an average.

Catering waste

Any waste food, including used cooking oil, from a restaurant, catering site or commercial kitchen is catering waste. So is waste from a cafe in your store or from sandwiches made on site. You can send it to a licensed landfill site, or to composting, biogas or processing, where it is a Category 3 animal by-product. Catering waste from international transport is Category 1.

You must never send catering waste, processed or not, to be used as farm animal feed or pet food.

Keep feed and waste streams apart

If you send lower-risk former foodstuffs such as surplus bread to animal feed, keep them separate from catering waste and from medium and higher-risk foodstuffs at every stage, from the shelf to the collection bin. Use sealed, colour-coded bags or boxes and dedicated roll cages, and carry raw meat and fish in sealed bags in drip trays so they cannot leak.

Move and record animal by-products

A consignment of animal by-products must travel with a commercial document. Keep a copy for at least 2 years. If you send by-products to landfill, keep a record of the type and approximate weight sent each week.