CHAPTER I – GENERAL

1. PURPOSE
   This directive informs inspection program personnel (IPP) of the requirements, verification activities, and enforcement actions for ensuring that the handling and slaughter of livestock, including disabled livestock and livestock slaughtered by religious ritual methods, is humane. This directive provides instructions to IPP (e.g., public health veterinarian (PHV), consumer safety inspector (CSI)) for conducting humane handling activities randomly throughout their tour of duty and provides instructions to IPP, in establishments that assert that they have put in place a systematic approach, on how to assess whether that approach is robust. PHVs are to no longer perform a monthly verification task (Verification of a Robust Systematic Approach) to determine whether an establishment maintains a robust systematic approach for humane handling as they are expected to make this assessment on an ongoing basis and inform the establishment of any status change in this regard. FSIS has modified the definition of egregious inhumane treatment and instructs IPP to document egregious inhumane treatment on a noncompliance record (NR) instead of a memorandum of interview (MOI). This revision also updates instructions for entering humane handling verification data into the Public Health Information System (PHIS).

2. CANCELLATION

3. BACKGROUND

4. IPP PERSONAL SAFETY

5. HUMANE HANDLING TERMINOLOGY

6. SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO HUMANE HANDLING AND SLAUGHTER (SYSTEMATIC APPROACH) IN A WRITTEN ANIMAL HANDLING PROGRAM

CHAPTER II – LIVESTOCK TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES AND THE TWENTY- EIGHT HOUR LAW

1. LIVESTOCK ON TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES

2. TWENTY-EIGHT HOUR LAW

CHAPTER III - RITUAL SLAUGHTER OF LIVESTOCK

1. GENERAL

2. RESPONSIBILITIES OF IPP IN ESTABLISHMENTS WHERE RITUAL SLAUGHTER IS PERFORMED

CHAPTER IV – LIVESTOCK HUMANE HANDLING VERIFICATION ACTIVITIES

1. HUMANE HANDLING ACTIVITIES TRACKING SYSTEM (HATS)

2. VERIFICATION OF ESTABLISHMENT HUMANE HANDLING ACTIVITIES

3. VERIFICATION OF HUMANE HANDLING USING THE NINE HATS CATEGORIES

4. PRIORITIZING HATS CATEGORY VERIFICATION

5. DOCUMENTATION OF HATS TIME IN PHIS

CHAPTER V - ENFORCEMENT AND DOCUMENTATION OF NONCOMPLIANCE

1. NONCOMPLIANCES WITHOUT INJURY TO ANIMALS

2. INHUMANE SLAUGHTER OR HANDLING CAUSING INJURY OR DISTRESS BUT NOT OF AN EGREGIOUS NATURE

3. INHUMANE SLAUGHTER OR HANDLING OF AN EGREGIOUS NATURE

4. TREND OF NONCOMPLIANCE AND LINKING NRs

5. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THE DVMS

CHAPTER VI - CUSTOM EXEMPT ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN A FEDERALLY INSPECTED ESTABLISHMENT: HUMANE HANDLING OF LIVESTOCK DESIGNATED AS CUSTOM EXEMPT ANIMALS

CHAPTER VII - QUESTIONS

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