WASHINGTON – An inspection notice establishing requirements for when livestock must be given food and water during transport and compliance instructions for facilities using a secondary entrances has been reissued by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS Notice 06-11: Humane Handling at All Entrances and the 28-Hour Law.

Reissuing the content of Notice 06-10, this notice, which provides inspection program personnel (IPP) with instructions to verify that establishments using secondary (or alternative) entrances or pathways to move livestock to slaughter are compliant with the statutory and regulatory requirements for livestock facilities, equipment used to handle livestock and other handling and driving practices. Secondary entrances or pathways (e.g., alleyways, doorways, passageways) are considered to be potential routes of movement to slaughter that differ from the route that the normal livestock population (ante-mortem inspected and passed livestock) follows.


Instructions to IPP related to the 28-Hour Law, under which transporters are required to stop to provide animals with food, water and rest are also provided. Transporters who have deprived livestock of food, water or rest for more than 28 hours are in violation of the 28-Hour Law.

The notice was reissued in response to concerns about establishments’ use of entrances or equipment and a petition for FSIS to provide IPP with instructions related to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 28-Hour Law, according to FSIS.

To view this notice, visit:http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/06-11.pdf.