Animal By-Product Rules and How they Affect Our Flocks

Animal By-Product (ABP) Regulation can catch out many poultry keepers. Fiona and Hugh Osborne explain the rules in simple terms.

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THE REASONS FOR ABP REGULATION

Every time we talk about the Animal By-Product Regulations on social media, it inevitably results in some howls of outrage as some common practices and food treats given by many chicken keepers are not legal under the legislation. Before we get to what is banned, it's useful to give you some context. It will help to explain why the rules are so wide ranging.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the UK was gripped by fear generated by the rise of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, also known as “mad cow disease”, a horrible neuro degenerative disease for one of our larger commonly farmed animals. Although 24 countries were ultimately affected by BSE, the UK had the most cases of the disease.

The film of cattle affected by BSE shown over and over again on the television news of the time was heartbreaking. Cattle struggling to stand, control their legs and even displaying what could only be interpreted as clear signs of fear and confusion, only served to increase the national panic.

By 1994 the fears were intensified when a variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting humans, appeared.

It rapidly affects mental and physical bodily functions and leads to dementia in suffers, something which can be described by many as high on the list of fears as they grow older.

Although the UK papers suspected and loudly shouted about a connection between vCJD and the consumption of BSE contaminated beef, it wasn’t until 1996 that a formal link was made. The rise in vCJD caused immense concern as beef is a traditional meat and was consumed by a large proportion of households either as a Sunday roast or a beefburger.