Haulage Standards

All livestock must be transported by a Quality Meat Scotland Haulage Assurance Scheme member if for hire and reward. Where a farmer is transporting his/her own stock the vehicle must be approved under the Quality Meat Scotland Haulage Assurance schemes.

Stress is a critical factor in the ultimate meat quality. This is why drivers and stockmen who are involved in the transporting of livestock are assessed under the Quality Meat Scotland Haulage Assurance Scheme.

This means that cattle, sheep and pigs are handled and transported with minimum stress - ensuring a quality product, and maintaining high standards of animal welfare.

A list of Quality Meat Scotland Assured Hauliers can be downloaded by clicking on the Members' directory.

A copy of the most recent standards can be downloaded below:

QMS Haulage Standards (pdf , 851kb)

Guide to safe livestock transport (PDF, 1.7Mb)

Please note: the documents to be found on these pages are uncontrolled versions and their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. In order to preserve the high regard and reputation of the Quality Meat Scotland Assurance Schemes, the scheme standards are constantly being reviewed and enhanced.

QMS strongly recommends that these standards be used as a guide only and clarification should always be sought from the relevant scheme manager / administrators to protect against potential non-compliance.