Food business operators who operate slaughterhouses, may only accept animals on to their premises if they have received or requested the relevant food chain information (FCI) held on the animals at the holding of provenance.
Retained EU Regulation 853/2004 sets out the conditions under which food business operators must request, receive, check and act upon FCI, whilst also laying down what information constitutes FCI. Annex I of Retained EU Regulation 852/2004 sets out the records that food business operators involved in primary production and associated operations (i.e. farmers) must maintain.
A more detailed explanation of FCI, as well as model FCI documents for poultry, various livestock and farmed game, can be found in our FSS approved establishments section.
You can also access FCI guidance documents for pigs and for cattle, sheep and goats at: