Guidance

Poultry meat marketing standards

Marketing standards for poultry meat producers, manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
31 December 2020
Last updated
16 September 2024 — See all updates

You must follow the rules for importing and exporting live animals or animal products.

If you’re exporting poultry meat from Great Britain to the EU, you’ll need to get an export health certificate.

Check if you need a poultry meat optional indications certificate

You must make sure that each consignment is accompanied by a poultry meat optional indications certificate issued by a GB competent authority if you either:

  • export poultry meat with one or more optional indications (chilling or farming method marks) from Great Britain to the EU
  • move poultry meat with one or more optional indications from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

From 1 February 2027, you’ll need an optional indications certificate from an EU competent authority to import poultry meat with one or more optional indications from the EU to Great Britain.

Chilling method marks are:

  • air-chilling
  • air-spray chilling
  • immersion chilling

Farming method marks are also referred to as special marketing terms (SMT).

They are:

  • fed with … % of …
  • oats-fed goose
  • extensive indoor or barn-reared
  • free range
  • traditional free range
  • free range total freedom

Fed with … % of …

The feed formula given to poultry during the fattening period must contain at least 65% of cereals (in weight). It must not contain more than 15% of cereal by-products.

If you use one specific cereal, it must account for at least 35% of the feed formula used. If maize is used in the cereal, it must account for 50% of the feed formula.

The feed formula provided during the fattening period must contain at least 5% of pulses or green vegetables.

It must also include at least 5% of dairy products during the finishing stage.

Oats-fed geese

Geese that are fed at least 500g of oats per day during the finishing stage of 3 weeks are referred to as ‘oats-fed’.

Extensive indoor or barn-reared

For poultry to be ‘extensive indoor’ or ‘barn-reared’, the stocking rate per square metre of floor space must not exceed:

  • for chickens – 15 birds and a live weight of 25kg or less
  • for ducks, guinea fowl and turkeys – a live weight of 25kg or less
  • for geese – a live weight of 15kg or less

The age of slaughter must be:

  • for chickens – 56 days or later
  • for turkeys – 70 days or later
  • for geese – 112 days or later
  • for Peking ducks – 49 days or later
  • for Muscovy ducks – 70 days or later for females and 84 days or later for males
  • for female Mulard ducks – 65 days or later
  • for guinea fowl – 82 days or later
  • for young geese or goslings – 60 days or later
  • for young cocks – 90 days or later
  • for capons – 140 days or later

Free range

You may be in a bird flu disease control zone where you must house your birds. Check what zone you’re in and follow the rules. 

An individual flock of broilers (chickens bred for meat) in these zones can keep their free range status for 12 weeks from the date that the zone is introduced.

If a flock of broilers is housed for more than 12 weeks they must be marketed as barn-reared.

The organic status of poultry flocks is not affected by the rule to house birds in England. You must meet all other organic standards. Contact your organic control body if you have any concerns about your organic status.

For poultry to be ‘free range’, the stocking rate in the house and the age at slaughter must follow the same requirements as for extensive indoor or barn-reared poultry.

There are exceptions for:

  • chickens – the stocking rate may be decreased to 13 and the live weight per square metre must be 27.5kg or less
  • capons – the stocking rate can be 7.5 birds per square metre or less and the live weight 27.5kg per square metre or less

You can also use the term ‘free range’ to refer to birds that have had continuous daytime access to open-air runs that are covered by certain amounts of vegetation:

  • one square metre per chicken or guinea fowl
  • 2 square metres per duck or per capon
  • 4 square metres per turkey or goose

The birds must have had access to these areas for at least half of their lifetime.

You can replace open-air runs for guinea fowl with a perchery (barn where they can move without restriction).

It must have:

  • floor space that’s at least as large as a house
  • a height of at least 2 metres
  • perches that allow each bird at least 10cm of space (house and perchery)

The feed formula given to free range poultry during the fattening period must contain at least 70% of cereals.

The poultry house must have pop holes of a combined length that’s at least equal to 4 metres per 100 square metres of the house’s floor space.

Traditional free range

For poultry to be ‘traditional free range’, the indoor stocking rate per square metre of floor space must not exceed:

  • for chickens – 12 and a live weight of 25kg or less, but in mobile houses that do not have more than 150 square metres of floor space and remain open at night, the stocking rate may be increased to 20 and a live weight of 40kg or less per square metre
  • for capons – 6.25 after 92 days of age, 12 up to 91 days of age and a live weight of 25kg or less
  • for Muscovy and Peking ducks – 8 males and a live weight of 35kg or less, 10 females and a live weight of 25kg or less
  • for Mulard ducks – 8 and a live weight of 35kg or less
  • for guinea fowl – 13 and a live weight of 25kg or less
  • for turkeys – 6.25 for birds over 7 weeks of age, 10 for up to 7 weeks of age and a live weight of 35kg or less
  • for geese – 5 for birds over 6 weeks of age, 10 for up to 6 weeks of age, 3 during the last 3 weeks of fattening if they’re kept in claustration, and a live weight of 30kg or less

The total usable area of poultry houses at any single production site must not exceed 1,600 square metres.

Each poultry house must not contain more than:

  • 4,800 chickens
  • 5,200 guinea fowl
  • 4,000 female Muscovy or Peking ducks, 3,200 male Muscovy ducks or 3,200 Mulard ducks
  • 2,500 capons, geese and turkeys

The poultry house must have pop holes of a combined length that’s at least equal to 4 metres per 100 square metres of the house’s floor space.

There must be continuous daytime access to open-air runs from the age of:

  • 6 weeks (for chickens and capons)
  • 8 weeks (for ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys)

Open-air runs need to include an area that’s mainly covered by vegetation amounting to at least:

  • 2 square metres per chicken, Muscovy duck, Peking duck or guinea fowl
  • 3 square metres per Mulard duck
  • 4 square metres per capon from 92 days old (each capon needs at least 2 square metres up to its 91st day)
  • 6 square metres per turkey
  • 10 square metres per goose

You can replace open-air runs for guinea fowl with a perchery (barn where they can move without restriction).

It must have:

  • floor space that’s at least as large as a house
  • a height of at least 2 metres
  • perches that allow each bird at least 10cm of space (house and perchery)

The birds that are fattened must be a strain that are recognised as slow growing.

The feed formula given to traditional free range poultry during the fattening stage must contain at least 70% of cereals.

The minimum age at slaughter is:

  • 81 days for chickens
  • 150 days for capons
  • 49 days for Peking ducks
  • 70 days for female Muscovy ducks
  • 84 days for male Muscovy ducks
  • 92 days for Mulard ducks
  • 94 days for guinea fowl
  • 140 days for turkeys and geese marketed whole for roasting
  • 98 days for female turkeys intended for cutting up
  • 126 days for female turkeys intended for cutting up
  • 95 days for geese intended for the production of foie gras and ‘magret’
  • 60 days for young geese (goslings)

The finishing stage in confinement must not exceed:

  • for chickens – 15 days (after 90 days of age)
  • for capons – 4 weeks
  • for geese and Mulard ducks intended for the production of foie gras and magret – 4 weeks (after 70 days of age)

Free range total freedom

For poultry to be classified as ‘free range total freedom’, it must meet the same criteria as ‘traditional free range’ poultry. The birds must also have continuous daytime access to open-air runs of unlimited area.

There must be no deliberate or obvious obstacle to where birds could range (for example, a fence). Enforcement officers will be pragmatic when inspecting businesses.

When you do not need an optional indications certificate

You do not need an optional indications certificate if you:

  • export poultry meat with one or more optional indications from Northern Ireland to the EU
  • import poultry meat with one or more optional indications from the EU to Northern Ireland
  • move poultry meat with one or more optional indications from Northern Ireland to Great Britain
  • import poultry meat with one or more optional indications from the EU to Great Britain until 1 February 2027

Importing poultry meat from non-EU countries to Great Britain

If you want to import poultry meat labelled with optional indications into Great Britain, you must make sure that a certificate signed by the competent authority of the country of origin accompanies your consignments.

The certificate must state that the consignment complies with the poultry meat marketing standards regulations in force in Great Britain.

Exporting poultry meat from Great Britain to non-EU countries

Poultry meat with optional indications that’s exported to non-EU countries may need to comply with different regulations for:

  • quality
  • marking
  • labelling

You should check the import requirements of the country you’re exporting to.

You do not need an optional indications certificate for exports travelling from Great Britain to non-EU countries via the EU, unless your destination country requires one.

Applying for an optional indications certificate

If you’re exporting or moving poultry meat from England or Wales to the EU or Northern Ireland, apply for an optional indications certificate:

  1. Download and complete the optional indications certificate application form.
  2. Send your completed form to [email protected].

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will verify the information on your application with relevant inspection bodies. Once verified, Defra will email the certificate to you. It’s the exporter’s responsibility to ensure it accompanies the consignment.

You should include ‘Uses optional indications’ in:

  • Box I.18 (Description of commodity) on Poultry Export Health Certificate 8296
  • Box I.27 (Description of consignment) on Poultry Export Health Certificate 8371

If you’re exporting or moving poultry meat from Scotland to the EU or Northern Ireland, email [email protected] to apply for an optional indications certificate.

Checks and controls for products entering the EU from Great Britain

There may be more customs checks carried out on your products. Poultry meat, along with all products of animal origin, should enter the EU through a border control post (BCP). BCPs were previously known as border inspection posts (BIPs).

Find details of BCPs in the EU.

For more information, see guidance on exporting live animals or animal products.

Importing poultry meat from the EU during a bird flu outbreak

You cannot import poultry meat into the UK from bird flu disease control zones in the EU.

Exporting to the EU during a bird flu outbreak

You cannot export poultry meat to the EU from bird flu disease control zones in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

If the poultry meat was produced outside a bird flu disease control zone you can export it to the EU.

Find the latest situation for:

Exporting to non-EU countries during a bird flu outbreak

You may be able to export poultry meat to non-EU countries that do not require the whole of the UK to be free from avian influenza. You must:

  • meet the conditions included in the export health certificate (including any regional disease freedom requirements of the importing country)
  • get the export health certificate certified by an official veterinarian
  • comply with any domestic movement controls, including obtaining movement licences where necessary

You should check the import requirements of the country you’re exporting to.

Checks and controls for products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain

All products of animal origin from Great Britain (including poultry meat) should enter Northern Ireland through designated points of entry.

For more information, read guidance on moving goods into, out of or through Northern Ireland.

Moving food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland: rules for authorised traders

An arrangement is in place that allows authorised traders such as supermarkets and their trusted suppliers to move some goods without the need for official certification.

If you’re moving products of animal origin from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, you do not need official certification, such as export health certificates, phytosanitary certificates or marketing standards certification.

The government is not discriminating against smaller suppliers or between different companies in implementing these practical measures.

The following conditions are attached to these arrangements:

  • the goods are packaged for end consumers and they bear a label reading ‘These products from the United Kingdom may not be marketed outside Northern Ireland’
  • they’re destined solely for sale to end consumers in supermarkets located in Northern Ireland, and they cannot be sold to other operators of the food chain
  • they’re accompanied by a simplified official certificate globally stating the products meet all the import requirements of EU legislation
  • they enter Northern Ireland through a designated point of entry, where they are submitted to a systematic documentary check and to a risk-based identity check on a selection of items in the means of transport
  • they’re monitored through a channelling procedure applicable from the designated point of entry to the destination supermarket in Northern Ireland

Labelling poultry meat produced in Northern Ireland

You need to mark poultry meat consignments with the UK’s oval health and identification marks and meet country of origin labelling requirements.

For more information, read the Food Standard Agency’s guidance on health and identification marks.

Rejected goods

If the poultry meat consignment you’re exporting from Great Britain to the EU is rejected at the EU border, you may be able to return the goods to Great Britain. Your consignment must meet GB poultry meat marketing standard requirements before it can enter GB free circulation (declared and customs duties paid).

You do not need to provide documentary evidence, but goods are subject to random checks in free circulation.

If you need help

Contact [email protected] or [email protected] if you have any queries about importing and exporting poultry meat.

If you have any questions about optional indications, email:

You’ll receive a response within 5 working days.

Updates to this page

Published 31 December 2020
Last updated 16 September 2024 + show all updates

  1. Updated to reflect that from 1 February 2027, you will need an optional indications certificate to import poultry meat with one or more optional indications from the EU to Great Britain. Also included an additional email address to contact if you need help.

  2. Information about the Border Target Operating Model has been removed because this page links to import guides. The linked guides contain more up-to-date information about documentary, physical and identity checks for imports.

  3. A prompt has been added to prepare for new import controls which begin on 31 January 2024.

  4. Optional indications certificates for imports to Great Britain from the EU will be needed from 1 February 2025, rather than January 2024. Added an extra bullet point about when you do not need an optional indications certificate. New sections added to highlight Border Target Operating Model risk categories.

  5. On April 18 2023 mandatory housing measures in England and Wales were lifted. Housing measures are still in place in some bird flu control zones.

  6. Mandatory housing measures in England and Wales have been lifted. Housing measures are still in place in some bird flu control zones.

  7. Added information about exporting poultry meat during a bird flu outbreak.

  8. Updated the 'free range' section with information about housing measures for birds.

  9. Changes to import controls previously due to come into effect on 1 July 2022 have been postponed. Optional indications certificates will now only be needed from January 2024. This page will be updated in autumn 2022 with new dates for import controls.

  10. Import controls on EU goods to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) planned from July will not be introduced in 2022. The controls that have already been introduced remain in place. This page will be updated in autumn 2022.

  11. New guidance added to the following sections: * Check if you need a poultry meat optional indications certificate * Applying for an optional indications certificate

  12. Updated with a new date for the introduction of controls on imports of poultry meat.

  13. Removed the 1 October 2021 date from the 'Arrangements for authorised traders moving food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland' guidance. Authorised traders can continue to move some goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without needing official certification.

  14. Updated section on authorised traders moving food from GB to NI.

  15. New guidance for bringing goods back to Great Britain if they have been rejected for import.

  16. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page

Contents

Related content