The Import and Export Restrictions (Foot-And-Mouth Disease) Regulations 2002

Dispatch of meat products

7.—(1) No person shall dispatch meat products of animals of the bovine, ovine, caprine or porcine species or any other biungulate coming from the restricted area or prepared using meat obtained from animals originating in that area.

(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply to meat products which have undergone one of the treatments laid down in Article 4(1) of Council Directive 80/215/EEC (on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in meat products(1)), or to meat products as defined in Council Directive 77/99/EEC which have been subjected during preparation uniformly throughout the substance to a pH value of less than 6.

(3) The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply to—

(a) meat products prepared before 1st February 2001, provided that the meat products are clearly identified and since that date have been transported and stored separately from meat products which are not destined for dispatch;

(b) meat products prepared in approved establishments which at the time of processing of meat eligible for dispatch met the following conditions—

(i) all fresh meat used in the establishment must conform to the conditions in regulation 6(3);

(ii) all meat products used in the final product must conform to the conditions in sub-paragraph (a) or be made from fresh meat obtained from animals reared and slaughtered outside the restricted area;

(iii) all meat products must bear the health mark in accordance with Chapter VI of Annex B to Council Directive 77/99/EEC;

(iv) the establishment must be operated under strict veterinary control; and

(v) the meat products must be clearly identified and transported and stored separately from meat and other meat products which are not destined for dispatch; or

(c) meat products prepared in parts of the United Kingdom outside the restricted area using meat obtained before 1 February 2001 from the restricted area provided that the meat and meat products are clearly identified and transported and stored separately from meat and meat products not destined for dispatch.

(4) Meat products consigned to another member State shall be accompanied by an official certificate prepared by the Secretary of State or the Minister and signed by a person appointed as an officer of the kind specified in the certificate which bears the following words—

• “Meat products conforming to Commission Decision 2001/172/EC of 1st March 2001 concerning certain protection measures with regard to foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom”.

(5) Paragraph (4) shall not apply to meat products which conform to the requirements of paragraph (2) if such compliance is stated in the commercial document accompanying the consignment, endorsed in accordance with regulation 14, and the products have been processed in an establishment operating HACCP and an auditable standard operating procedure which ensures that standards for treatment are met and recorded.

(6) Paragraph (4) shall not apply to meat products treated in hermetically sealed containers so as to ensure they are shelf stable if the heat treatment applied is stated in the commercial document accompanying the consignment.

(1)

OJ No. L47, 21.2.1980, p.4.