Information Concerning Enforcement of the Laws Governing the Welfare of Farmed Animals at the Time of Slaughter for the Period 01/01/2024 - 31/12 2024

Your request was about the following information:

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘the Act’) to request information concerning enforcement of the laws governing the welfare of farmed animals at the time of slaughter.

Please provide the following information for the period 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2024.

Q1. How many slaughterhouses are under your authority?

Q2. How many welfare complaints did you receive in relation to animal welfare at slaughterhouses?

Q3. How many welfare complaints did you investigate in relation to welfare at slaughterhouses?

Q4. What was the FSS’ budget for inspections and enforcement of animal welfare law at slaughterhouses? If you are not able to provide a figure for the separate budget for animal welfare, please provide a figure for the FSS total budget concerning inspections and audits in slaughterhouses.

Q5. How many people do you employ to carry out farmed animal welfare inspections as part of their duties? If possible, please provide the response in FTE (Full time equivalent).

Q6. What was the total number of inspections that were conducted in your jurisdiction?

Q7. What was the total number of inspections conducted in slaughterhouses in your jurisdiction that found non-compliance with animal welfare law? foodstandards.gov.scot 2

Q8. What enforcement action was taken by you out of the following, when an inspection revealed non-compliance:

Q8a. Prosecution.

Q8b. Referral to another body, and if so, which one.

Q8c. Enforcement notice under The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Q9. What was the total number of prosecution proceedings commenced or referred to the Crown Office and Procurator fiscal service or the local authority for prosecution of offences under The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012?

Q10. How many individuals subject to any of the above enforcement actions had previously committed an animal welfare offence?

Q11. How many welfare complaints were referred to a local authority or APHA for enforcement of on farm or transport welfare issues?

A1. There are 26 approved slaughterhouses in Scotland under the authority of Food Standards Scotland (FSS), as of 01 April 2025.

A2. FSS did not receive any welfare complaints in relation to animal welfare at slaughterhouses during the period in question.

A3. FSS did not investigate any welfare complaints in relation to welfare at slaughterhouses during the period in question.

A4. FSS delivers animal welfare controls at slaughterhouses under a Service Level Agreement with the Scottish Government, as Policy holders for animal welfare. It is more appropriate for this question to be posed to them. However, what we can state, is that every slaughterhouse in Scotland has FSS presence every day of operation and animal welfare checks are conducted throughout these operational days.

A5. Our inspections in relation to animal welfare only relate to slaughterhouses and we employ approximately 35 full time equivalent Official Veterinarians and 65 full time equivalent Meat Hygiene Inspectors.

A6. FSS staff is present in all operational slaughterhouses, every day, with animal welfare checks being conducted by FSS’s staff throughout the day, so we cannot provide a specific number of inspections.

A7. All non-compliances identified, attributed to the slaughterhouse environment, on-farm practices or issues during transport, are published at: Animal Welfare Data | Food Standards Scotland. This includes all 2024 data.

A8. As per link provided at answer 7, the actions taken are also published.

A9. There were no prosecution proceedings commenced or referred to the Crown Office and Procurator fiscal service or the local authority for prosecution of offences under The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012, in 2024.

A10. N/A

A11. As per link provided at answer 7, the referrals are referenced as part of the actions taken.