The Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Products of Animal Origin (Disease Control) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008 No. 431) (‘the 2008 regulations’) to implement requirements in section 4(d) of Annex II of Council Directive 92/119/EEC in respect of any meat from pigs with antibodies against swine vesicular disease in which disease has not been confirmed but which the Department has required to be slaughtered. Those pigs may only be slaughtered in a designated slaughterhouse and they must, whilst there, be kept separate from other pigs (regulation 6). The meat from the seropositive pigs cannot be exported (regulation 10(a)). This is ensured by marking and record keeping requirements in respect of the meat (regulations 8 and 11 respectively).

These Regulations also amend the 2008 Regulations in respect of restricted meat from restricted poultry intended for supply on the domestic market to:

(a) Remove the requirement on a supplier of such poultry meat to know, in order to avoid the supply prohibition, how others in the supply chain have handled the relevant restricted animals and meat (regulation 10(b));

(b) Remove offences of receiving such poultry meat at an undesignated place (regulation 7);

(c) Remove offences of transporting restricted poultry meat to an undesignated place (regulation 9); and

(d) Provide a new circular mark for placing on seropositive pig meat in an amendment to Schedule 3.

The 2008 Regulations are amended to exclude certain persons from record keeping requirements (regulation 11).