In the red meat industry the integrated food chain approach is internationally recognised as the foundation for both food safety and quality. The red meat food chain is usually divided into pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest phases and these will be described and discussed. Meat production in the pre-harvest phase may involve veterinary supervision to ensure that meat comes from a healthy animal. Herd or farm status accreditation can be part of this. The harvesting phase starts at slaughter and is called processing. In a formal food chain, it occurs in an abattoir and includes primary and secondary meat inspection. Post-harvesting deals with packaging, distribution and sales of meat products. Veterinarians share responsibilities with medical and environmental health professionals, during the harvesting and post-harvesting phases.