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SCHEDULE 4

PART I

Section ARequirements to be met by premises where animal by-products described in Schedule 1 Part I are rendered.

1.  Premises and facilities must meet at least the following requirements:

(a)the premises must be adequately separated from the public highway and other premises. Notwithstanding this they may occupy the same building as a slaughterhouse provided that they are in a completely separate part of the building; unauthorised persons and animals shall have no access to the premises;

(b)the premises must have a clean and an unclean section, adequately separated. The unclean section must have a covered place to receive the material for rendering and must be constructed in such a way that it is easy to clean and disinfect. Floors must be laid in such a way as to facilitate the draining of liquids. The premises must have adequate lavatories, changing rooms and washbasins for staff;

in the unclean section, where appropriate, there must be adequate facilities for deskinning or de-hairing of animals and a storage room for hides;

(c)the premises must have sufficient capacity and hot water and steam production for the rendering of material in accordance with Section B of Part I of this Schedule;

(d)the unclean section must, if appropriate, contain equipment to reduce the size of material for rendering and equipment for loading the crushed material into the rendering unit;

(e)a closed rendering installation is required in which the material must be rendered in accordance with Section B of Part I of this Schedule. Where heat treatment is required, this installation must be equipped with:

(f)to prevent recontamination of the finished rendered material by incoming raw material, there must be clear separation between the area of the premises where the incoming raw material is unloaded and rendered and the areas set aside for further processing of the heated material and the storage of the finished rendered product.

2.  The premises must have adequate facilities for cleaning and disinfecting the containers or receptacles in which unrendered material is received and the vehicles—other than ships—in which it is transported.

3.  Adequate facilities must be provided for disinfecting the wheels, immediately before their departure, of vehicles transporting animal by-products or leaving the unclean section of the premises.

4.  A waste water disposal system meeting hygiene requirements is required for the premises.

5.  The premises must either have their own laboratory or make use of the services of a laboratory equipped to carry out the necessary tests and in particular to check conformity with Section C of Part I of this Schedule.

Section BHygiene requirements relating to operating the rendering plant.

1.  Animal by-products must be rendered as soon as possible after arrival and shall be stored properly until rendered.

2.  Containers, receptacles and vehicles used for the transport of unrendered material must be cleaned, washed and disinfected after each use.

3.  Persons must not enter the clean section from the unclean section without changing their working clothes and footwear or without disinfecting the latter. Equipment and utensils shall not be taken from the unclean section into the clean section. 1373.09

4.  Waste water originating in the unclean section must be treated to ensure that no pathogens remain.

5.  Preventative measures against birds, rodents, insects or other vermin must be taken systematically.

6.  Rendering must be carried out either:

(i) so that

(a)material must be heated to a core temperature of at least 133°C for 20 minutes at a pressure of 3 bar. The particle size of the raw material prior to processing must be reduced to at least 50 mm by means of a prebreaker or grinder;

(b)recording thermographs must be provided at the critical points of the heating process to monitor the heat treatment; or

(ii) using any of the systems of heat treatment described in Commission Decision 92/562/EEC(1) subject to the conditions contained in that Decision.

7.  Installations and equipment must be kept in a good state of repair and measuring equipment must be calibrated at regular intervals.

8.  The finished products must be handled and stored at the premises in such a way as to preclude recontamination.

9.  Hides must be salted using sodium chloride.

Section CRequirements concerning the products after rendering.

1.  Samples of the finished products, taken directly after heat treatment, must be free from heatresistant pathogenic bacteria spores (Clostridium perfringens absent in 1g of the products).

2.  Samples of the final products taken during or upon withdrawal from storage at the premises must comply with the following standards:

SalmonellaAbsence in 25g: n=5, c=0, m=0, M=0
Enterobacteriaceae:n=5, c=2, m=10, M=3×102 in 1g,

where

n= number of units comprising the sample;

m= threshold value for the number of bacteria; the result is considered satisfactory if the number of bacteria in all sample units does not exceed m;

M= maximum value for the number of bacteria; the result is considered unsatisfactory if the number of bacteria in one or more sample units is M or more;

c= number of sample units the bacterial count of which may be between m and M, the sample still being considered acceptable if the bacterial count of the other sample units is m or less.

(1)

OJ No. L359, 9.12.92, p.23.