The QS advisory board for cattle and pigs has specified the requirements for recording and reporting of diagnostic data in pig slaughter and made them more practical. Therefore, the guidelines Slaughtering/Deboning and Befunddaten in der Schweineschlachtung (only available in German) were changed with effect from 1st February 2018.
Abattoirs outside of Germany must record the diagnostic data in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 854/2004. They must ensure that the data are recorded in their own IT system and reported back to the livestock owner. In order to identify any need for action, the livestock owners must be able to compare their data with those of all other livestock owners delivering the abattoir. In addition, as of July 2018, the abattoirs must report an overview of the results and an evaluation for all QS certified livestock owners to the QS head office quarterly. An overview of these changes can be found in the revision information for the guideline Slaughtering/Deboning.
Abattoirs within Germany that slaughter more than 200 pigs per week must report the diagnostic data to the QS diagnostic database. If less than 200 pigs per hour are slaughtered and the official veterinarians do not record their diagnostic data on a single animal basis, the data may initially be reported in aggregated form. If the slaughter capacity is less than 200 pigs per week, a notification is not required initially, but may continue on a voluntary basis. This classification makes the QS requirements for recording and reporting of diagnostic data more practical. All changes can be found in the guideline. Please notice that the QS guideline Diagnostic Data in Pig Slaughtering no longer applies for abattoirs outside of Germany and is therefore no longer available in English.
