Clean Livestock Policy
The Hygiene Package, which came into force in all European Union Member States on 1 January 2006, provides the following in relation to cleanliness of livestock being presented for slaughter:
Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004
Food business operators rearing animals or producing primary products of animal origin are to take adequate measures, as appropriate and as far as possible to ensure the cleanliness of animals going to slaughter and, where necessary, production animals.
Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004
Food business operators operating slaughterhouses must have HACCP-based intake procedures to guarantee that each animal or, where appropriate, each lot of animals accepted onto the slaughterhouse premises is clean. In the event of failure to comply with any of the requirements the food business operator must notify the official veterinarian and take appropriate measures.
Regulation (EC) No. 854/2002
The official veterinarian is to verify compliance with the food business operators duty under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004; to ensure that animals that have such hide conditions that there is an unacceptable risk of contamination of the meat during slaughter are not slaughtered for human consumption unless they are cleaned beforehand.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food requires food business operators at slaughtering establishments to categorise as follows:
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- A - Cattle that can be slaughtered, without an unacceptable risk of contaminating the meat during the slaughter process by using the standard hygienic dressing procedures routinely employed by the plant;
- B - Cattle that can only be slaughtered without an unacceptable risk of contamination of the meat during the slaughter process, by putting in place extra defined hygienic dressing controls;
- C - Cattle unfit for slaughter because of hide condition. These cattle must not be presented for ante mortem and it is the responsibility of the FBO to take the required remedial action with regard to these cattle.
The Department has also actively publicised the requirements for primary producers to ensure that animals being sent for slaughter are clean as well as guidance in that regard. This approach has included publication of articles in the farming press, information leaflets and mailshots to producers who may have supplied animals that were categorised as less than fully compliant with the required level of cleanliness.
