The Meat Products (Hygiene) Regulations 1994

PART V WRAPPING, PACKAGING AND LABELLING

1.  Wrapping, packaging and labelling shall take place under satisfactory hygiene conditions in rooms provided for that purpose.

Without prejudice of Council Directive 89/109/EEC(1) on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, wrapping and packaging shall comply with the rules of hygiene laid down in these Regulations, and be strong enough to protect the meat products effectively.

2.  Wrapping and packaging may not be re-used for meat products, with the exception of certain special types of containers (“reusable containers”) such as earthenware, glass or plastic containers which may be re-used after thorough cleaning and disinfecting.

3.  Manufacture of meat products and packaging operations may take place in the same room where reusable containers are used.

4.  They may also take place in the same room if—

(a) the room shall be sufficiently large and so equipped that the hygiene of the operations is not compromised;

(b) where appropriate, the packaging and wrapping shall be enclosed in a sealed protective cover immediately after manufacture; this cover shall be protected from damage during transport to the meat products premises and stored under hygienic conditions in a room intended for that purpose;

(c) the rooms for storing the packaging material shall be free from amounts of dust which could constitute an unacceptable risk of contamination of the products and from vermin and have no atmospheric connection with rooms containing substances which might contaminate meat, minced meat, meat preparations or meat products. Packaging shall not be placed directly on the floor;

(d) packaging shall be assembled under hygienic conditions before being brought into the room; this requirement need not be complied with where the enforcement authority is satisfied that there is no risk of contamination of the meat products;

(e) packaging shall be brought to the room under hygienic conditions and used without delay. Where there is a risk of contamination it may not be handled by staff handling unwrapped meat, minced meat, meat preparations or meat products;

(f) immediately after packaging, the meat products shall be placed in the storage rooms provided for the purpose.

5.  The species of meat used in the manufacture of the product shall be visible and legibly displayed on the wrapping or on the label of meat products, unless indicated by the sales description of the product or in the list of ingredients.

6.  If the product is contained in packaging not intended for the final consumer, the date of preparation shall be visibly and legibly displayed on the packaging or otherwise clearly indicated.

(1)

OJ No. L40, 11.2.89, p.38.