Can You Feed Kitchen Scraps to Goats? What the Law Says

“Goats eat anything” is one of the most repeated bits of folklore about keeping them, and it runs straight into a law, in some countries, that most first-time keepers have never heard of — one that has nothing specifically to do with goats, and everything to do with keeping any livestock at all.

It's not a pig-specific rule

The UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is explicit: the catering waste ban applies to “livestock such as pigs and poultry, even if they are being kept as pets,” and extends to any farmed animal of any species kept, fattened or bred by humans — which includes goats, whether you keep one for milk, for company, or purely as a pet. APHA, catering waste ban. It became illegal to feed catering waste to farmed animals in the UK in 2001, and the ban was later adopted across the whole of the (then) European Community in 2003.

What counts as catering waste

Catering waste means all waste food originating in restaurants, catering facilities and household kitchens — that covers your own dinner leftovers and vegetable peelings, not just restaurant or café waste. APHA's guidance specifically notes that even a vegetarian kitchen is covered, because of cross-contamination risk from animal-derived products like milk that may have been used in food preparation.

Why the ban exists

The rule exists to stop notifiable animal diseases spreading, such as African and classical swine fever and foot and mouth disease. The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak — which resulted in the destruction of more than 10 million cattle and sheep, and millions of pounds in compensation — is widely thought to have started with pigs fed undercooked catering waste containing the virus. That history is specific to pigs, but the ban itself isn't: APHA's Veterinary Director Simon Hall has described the catering waste ban as “a national barrier to the introduction of potentially devastating animal diseases” across livestock generally, not a pig-only precaution.

What you can do instead

Feed a proper goat diet — browse, hay and a suitable concentrate feed sized to your goat's weight, not kitchen leftovers. Our feed guide gives real dry matter figures by weight, and the feed cost calculator turns that into a daily, weekly and monthly budget.

The US: no equivalent federal rule found

The US federal law governing garbage-feeding, the Swine Health Protection Act, is specific to swine and doesn't extend to goats. We haven't found an equivalent federal restriction for goats, which doesn't mean there isn't one at state level — check your state department of agriculture and any local rules before feeding anything that's been through a kitchen, rather than assuming the pig-specific federal silence means it's unregulated everywhere.

Sources: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), “APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk” (11 January 2017): gov.uk. Sources checked: September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Common questions

Is it illegal to feed kitchen scraps to pet goats in the UK?

Yes. APHA's guidance is explicit that the catering waste ban applies to any farmed animal species kept, fattened or bred by humans, including animals kept solely as pets — goats are named livestock, so a pet goat is covered the same as a commercial herd.

Isn't this rule really just about pigs?

No — it's a common misconception. The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak that triggered the ban did start with pigs, but APHA's guidance is explicit that the ban itself covers 'livestock such as pigs and poultry' and any farmed animal from any species, which includes goats.

What counts as kitchen scraps for a goat?

Any waste food from a domestic or commercial kitchen, including vegetarian households — APHA's guidance specifically notes vegetarian kitchens are still covered, because of cross-contamination risk from animal-derived products like milk used in food preparation.

Is there a US federal rule for feeding goats food scraps?

Not one we've found. The federal Swine Health Protection Act that governs pig garbage-feeding is specific to swine — we haven't found an equivalent federal rule for goats, so check your state department of agriculture and local rules directly.