Date of issue: 9 December 2025
Date of effect: Immediate
Attention: Meat and meat products registered establishments and exporters
Purpose
This notice provides export registered establishments with notice that the proposed 2025 legislative amendments to the meat commodity rules will commence on 9 December 2025, and advice on implementation tasks needed to support using the changes.
Variation of Approved Arrangement
These changes for the purposes of varying an establishments approved arrangement have been classified as non-significant. As a result of this classification, you are not required to submit an EX26b application and an Area Technical Manager will not be required to approve the variation.
Responsibilities
Where establishments prepare veal for export, Establishment management must:
- Amend all references to the Australian Meat Industry Classification (the AUS-MEAT Language Manual) edition in the establishment Approved Arrangement (AA) to the updated edition: 2025, which becomes applicable from the time the amendments take effect.
- Make amendments to the establishment AA, as appropriate, to note the permitted increase in veal weight (now 190 kg max carcase weight) applicable to product labelled as veal for export within the veal definition in the Export Control (Meat and Meat Products) Rules 2021.
- Note, importing country requirements for veal, where veal is a recognised and permitted product, apply.
- For those countries that use a different definition for veal or use a different maximum weight, the importing country requirements apply.
- Where applicable, the occupier’s approved arrangement must be amended to incorporate these changes, before the changes can be used by the establishment when preparing meat and meat products for export.
- The amendments to the approved arrangement must be tabled at the weekly management meeting with the on-plant veterinarian.
On-plant veterinarians will:
- Provide establishment management with a copy of this meat notice as soon as possible.
- Verify the establishment responsibilities and actions of this meat notice (as relevant) have been included in the occupier’s approved arrangement.
- Verify the establishment complies with the requirements of this notice.
Area Technical Managers will:
- Verify through audits the occupier compliance/non-compliance with relevant export legislation, importing country requirements and Australian standards.
Requirements
The Export Control (Meat and Meat Products) Rules 2021 (Meat Rules) are being amended and include:
- Changes to audit reporting obligations applicable to the auditors. There is no change to current arrangements for auditees receiving a copy of the audit report. These changes will also occur across the export commodity rules.
- Minor technical edits changing ‘authorised officer’ to ‘Commonwealth authorised officer’ in a number of Chapter 4 sections. The changes will also occur across the wild game meat and rabbit and ratite meat commodity rules.
- Updates the version of the Australian Meat Industry Classification System (the AUS-MEAT language manual) that is to be used by registered establishments. The new version will be the 2025 edition, which incorporates a new cipher that may be used following Amendment Rule registration.
- Amending the Meat Rules section 1-5 definition for veal, by increasing the maximum weight from 150 kg to 190 kg hot dress carcase weight.
Definitions
veal means meat derived from a female, castrated male or entire male bovine animal:
- that shows no evidence of eruption of permanent incisor teeth; and
- the carcase of which is not more than 190 kg by reference to hot dress carcase weight; and
- that, in the case of a male animal, shows no evidence of secondary sexual characteristics.