Selling meat in Republika Srpska: approved slaughterhouse, stamp and declaration

Meat for a butcher shop, a restaurant or another catering establishment must come from an animal slaughtered in an approved slaughterhouse, with a veterinary examination and stamp. The rules concern keepers of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, farm households that host guests, and caterers who want to serve local meat.

In short

• Animals whose meat is meant for public consumption may be slaughtered only in approved slaughterhouses (Zakon o veterinarstvu u Republici Srpskoj, the Law on Veterinary Medicine in Republika Srpska, Article 83).
• Outside an approved slaughterhouse the law allows emergency slaughter, and slaughter of pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and rabbits for use in your own household. Selling food of animal origin outside a registered or approved facility is prohibited (Article 87).
• An authorised veterinarian examines the meat and marks it with the veterinary inspection stamp. The stamp carries the control number of the slaughterhouse or meat processing facility.
• Only identified animals with a health status certificate may be traded.
• The declaration for fresh unpackaged meat on the counter must be printed in capital letters at least 3 mm high.

Who it applies to

• Keepers who sell meat from their own animals.
• Farm households that offer guests accommodation and meals.
• Restaurants and caterers that buy meat from local producers.

Approved and registered facilities

The Republika Srpska law distinguishes two kinds of facility (Article 3):

• approved facility (odobren objekat): before entry in the register, it is checked that the facility meets veterinary health and food hygiene conditions; it is then entered in the Register of Approved Facilities;
• registered facility (registrovan objekat): entered in the Register of Facilities for record purposes, without a prior check of conditions.

A slaughterhouse for meat meant for public consumption must be approved. The application for registration or approval goes to the Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srpske (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Republika Srpska). The minister issues a decision and the facility receives a veterinary control number (Article 60). A rulebook issued by the minister sets which kinds of facility are only registered and which must be approved. Ask the Ministry before you start whether your butcher shop or kitchen needs registration or approval.

The state-level Law on Veterinary Medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina uses only the term "registered facility": production and trade of products of animal origin are allowed only in registered facilities, and a facility may not start work until it has a veterinary control number (Article 27).

What to do

1. Identify your animals and carry out the animal health measures set by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. According to the Inspektorat Republike Srpske (Inspectorate of Republika Srpska), all animals on domestic farms must be identified.
2. Take an animal whose meat will be sold or served in a catering establishment to an approved slaughterhouse. Before slaughter the veterinary inspector checks the animal's identification, its identification document and its health status certificate (Article 84), so bring them. Ask your veterinarian or the municipal or city veterinary inspection where the nearest slaughterhouse is and which papers you need to transport the animal.
3. Collect the meat only after it has been examined and stamped. Keep the documents on its origin. Inspectors trace where meat came from, so the quantity in your counter and cold store must match your business documents.
4. If you sell fresh unpackaged meat to consumers in a registered or approved facility, display the declaration on the refrigerated counter where customers can see it. It lists: country of birth, countries of rearing, country of slaughter with the veterinary control number, country of cutting with the veterinary control number, type and category of meat, date of slaughter, any special storage or use conditions and a "use by" date. Keep meat from animals of different countries apart.
5. According to the chief veterinary inspector of Republika Srpska, minced meat may be made only in front of the customer, unless it arrives already packaged by the meat industry. Meat must be kept at 8 °C or below from processing through storage and transport to sale.

Home slaughter

You may slaughter pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and rabbits outside an approved slaughterhouse if the meat is for use in your own household (Article 83, paragraph 4). Cattle are not on that list, so ask the veterinary inspector about them. When domestic pigs are slaughtered, the law requires a Trichinella test (Article 84, paragraph 5). Ask your veterinary station where to hand in the sample.

Meat from an animal slaughtered in your yard may not be sold, because food of animal origin may be sold only from a registered or approved facility (Article 87). If you serve meals to guests, ask the inspection whether this counts as public consumption.

Emergency slaughter, when the animal's life is in immediate danger, may also be done outside a slaughterhouse. A veterinarian then examines the animal before slaughter (Articles 83 and 84).

Animal diseases

In its notice of 28 July 2026, the Inspectorate of Republika Srpska said that African swine fever had recently been confirmed in Republika Srpska. The situation had been brought under control, but the disease was still present, as it was in Serbia and Croatia near the border. The same notice reported brucellosis in the Federation of BiH, sheep and goat pox in Serbia and peste des petits ruminants in Croatia. Brucellosis can also pass to people.

By 7 October 2026 the Inspectorate had not published a newer notice on animal diseases, and the situation changes quickly. Check current measures and any trade bans with your veterinary station or the municipal veterinary inspection.

The Inspectorate advises farmers to:

• not buy or sell animals without veterinary documents,
• limit the entry of other people and vehicles to the farm,
• apply biosecurity and hygiene measures every day.

Report any dead animal or suspected disease to the veterinary service at once. Do not dump carcasses in the open.

Where to go

• Municipal or city veterinary inspection, through the municipal or city administration (Trebinje, Bileća, Gacko, Ljubinje, Nevesinje, Berkovići).
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Republika Srpska, for registration or approval of a facility.
• Republička uprava za inspekcijske poslove (Republic Administration for Inspection Affairs, the Inspectorate of Republika Srpska), Trg Republike Srpske 8, 78000 Banja Luka, phone +387 51 334 627, uprava@inspektorat.vladars.rs.
• Your veterinarian at the local veterinary station or clinic, for identifying animals, the health status certificate and the Trichinella test.

Laws and sources

• Law on Veterinary Medicine in Republika Srpska (Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske 75/17), amended in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske 63/24, Articles 3, 60, 83, 84 and 87
• Law on Veterinary Medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Službeni glasnik BiH 34/02), Article 27
• Inspectorate RS: stronger checks on marking and movement of animals and meat trade (8 April 2024)
• Inspectorate RS: stronger checks on meat trade and declarations (27 January 2026)
• Inspectorate RS: meat trade under inspection control (13 July 2026)
• Inspectorate RS: stronger control due to several animal diseases (28 July 2026)