Selling meat from your own animals: UK rules for meat boxes

Updated 2 November 2026

Yes, you can sell meat from your own animals, as long as they were killed at an approved slaughterhouse, where the carcase is inspected and health marked. You also need to register as a food business with your council at least 28 days before you start, keep the meat cold and label it correctly. Meat from animals killed at home can’t be sold.

Can you sell private kill meat?

Yes. Private kill means paying an approved slaughterhouse to kill your animal and give you back the carcase or the meat. The Food Standards Agency’s home slaughter guide says private slaughter at an approved slaughterhouse follows the same rules and procedures as a commercial kill, so the meat can be sold, for example in your farm shop.

What you can’t sell is meat from an animal killed at home, even by a licensed slaughterman. See home slaughter and the law.

Poultry and rabbits have one exception. A producer can sell small quantities of birds or rabbits reared and killed on the farm direct to consumers or to local shops that sell to consumers. In England the meat must be labelled with the farm’s name and address, and you must keep weekly records of birds and rabbits received and meat sent out, for a year. Wales has a matching schedule in its own food hygiene regulations. Anyone killing birds or rabbits for this kind of sale needs a slaughter licence or certificate of competence, or must work under the direct supervision of someone who holds one.

Register with your council first

Anyone who sells, stores, handles, prepares or distributes food must register as a food business with their local council. That includes trading from home, from a market stall or van, and online.

• Register at least 28 days before you start trading.
• Registration is free and can’t be refused.
• Register each site with the council where it is.

The council may inspect you and give you a food hygiene rating. Your livestock registration (your CPH) is separate and doesn’t cover selling meat.

Who cuts and packs the meat

Meat for sale must come from an approved slaughterhouse. After that, there are two main routes.

The approval rule comes from Regulation (EC) No 853/2004: premises that handle meat for other businesses must be approved, unless a retailer is supplying only other retailers and that supply is a marginal, localised and restricted part of its business.

If you plan to cut and pack yourself, talk to your council’s food safety team before you start. If a local butcher cuts your carcase and you then sell the meat, check that the butcher is approved, or that the work falls within what a retail butcher is allowed to supply to another business.

For planning the cuts, see cutting lists and how much meat you get from a pig, lamb or cow.

Keeping it cold

• The slaughterhouse must chill meat to 7°C or below throughout, or 3°C for offal, and keep it at that temperature in transport.
• After that, the FSA’s chilling guidance says chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below in England and Wales, and advises setting fridges to 5°C or below.
• For delivery, chilled food can go in an insulated box with coolant gel, or a cool bag. Your food safety plan must cover transport, and your council must be satisfied that any vehicle you use is suitable.
• Keep raw meat away from ready-to-eat food. If you sell both, use separate equipment, including separate vacuum packers, or disinfect thoroughly between uses.

Before you take orders, pack a test box as a customer would get it and check the meat temperature when it would arrive.

What goes on the label

Most meat box packs are prepacked, so they need full labels. For a plain cut of lamb, pork or beef that means:

• the name of the food, such as “Lamb leg steaks”
• the net weight in grams or kilograms
• a use-by date and storage instructions, such as “Keep refrigerated”
• your name or business name and address
• origin details (see below) and a batch code
• the identification mark, if it was packed at an approved plant
• “Frozen on” and the date, if it’s sold frozen.

A cut that is a single ingredient doesn’t need an ingredients list or a nutrition panel.

Origin and beef labelling

• Pork, lamb, mutton, goat and poultry (prepacked, fresh, chilled or frozen): show “Reared in” and “Slaughtered in” with the country, or “Origin: UK” if the animal was born, reared and slaughtered in the UK, plus a batch code.
• Beef and veal come under the compulsory beef labelling scheme, which covers farm shops and market stalls too. Labels need a reference code linking the meat to the animal or group, the countries where it was born, reared, slaughtered and cut, and the approval numbers of the slaughterhouse and cutting plant. Beef sold loose over the counter needs the countries but not the approval numbers. Mince has its own version. If you cut beef yourself, ask your council’s trading standards team what to show for “cut in”.

Sausages, burgers and other products

Anything with more than one ingredient needs an ingredients list, with allergens emphasised, for example in bold. Sausages and burgers often contain allergens such as cereals containing gluten in rusk or breadcrumb, sulphites as a preservative, and mustard or celery in seasonings. Get the ingredient specification for any seasoning mix, rusk or casing you buy.

Names have rules too. In England, a product called a pork sausage must be at least 42% pork, and a beefburger at least 62% beef, under the Products Containing Meat etc. (England) Regulations 2014. When the meat is named, the label must show how much there is as a percentage.

Processed products such as sausages also need a nutrition declaration, unless you make them in small quantities and sell them direct to consumers or to local shops that sell to consumers.

Loose meat and food packed where it’s sold

• Loose meat, such as cuts sold from a chiller on a stall, still needs allergen information for anything containing one of the 14 allergens. You can give it verbally if a clear written notice tells customers to ask (FSA allergen guidance). Loose beef needs its origin information on display.
• Prepacked for direct sale means food packed on the same premises it’s sold from, such as sausages packed in your farm shop. It needs the name of the food and a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised.

Weights

Each prepacked pack needs its net weight in metric units. You can’t use household scales to weigh goods you sell, and your local trading standards team can tell you what equipment is suitable. If you advertise a box by weight, make sure the packs inside add up to it.

Markets, farm gate and online

• Farmers’ markets and farm gate: include any stall or van when you register, and ask your council if you’re unsure how. Keep meat chilled on display, and check the market’s own conditions.
• Online: for prepacked food sold online, all the mandatory label information except the use-by date must be available before the customer buys, at no extra cost, and everything must be on the pack at delivery. Allergen information must be available before purchase and again at delivery.
• Hygiene rating: in Wales you must display your rating sticker at or near the entrance; in England display is voluntary. Wherever you trade, including online, only use images of your current rating.

Training, records and insurance

• Training: a food hygiene certificate isn’t compulsory, but anyone handling food must be supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene to suit their work. A short course is the simplest way to show this.
• Food safety management: food businesses must have procedures based on HACCP principles. The FSA’s Safer Food, Better Business packs are a common starting point for small businesses.
• Records: keep records of where your animals were killed and cut, and of any business you supply.
• Insurance: food law doesn’t require it, but employers’ liability insurance is compulsory once you employ anyone other than close family. Markets and shops may also ask for public and product liability cover.

What’s different in Wales

• The core rules are the same, from the same retained EU regulations. Wales has its own versions of the national regulations, such as the Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006.
• You register through the same service, with your Welsh council.
• The compulsory beef labelling scheme guidance covers England and Wales.
• Displaying your food hygiene rating is a legal requirement in Wales.
• The minimum meat content figures above come from England’s regulations. Check the Welsh position with your council’s trading standards team.

Still looking for somewhere to kill and cut? Use the finder to see which abattoirs near you take your species, and read the private kill guide for booking and paperwork.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ between England and Wales and change over time, so check with your abattoir, vet or local council if you're unsure.