Food business operators transporting live animals to slaughterhouses must ensure compliance with the following requirements.
During collection and transport, animals must be handled carefully without causing unnecessary distress.
Animals showing symptoms of disease or originating in herds known to be contaminated with agents of public health importance may only be transported to the slaughterhouse when the competent authority so permits.
Food business operators must ensure that the construction, layout and equipment of slaughterhouses in which domestic ungulates are slaughtered meet the following requirements.
Slaughterhouses must have adequate and hygienic lairage facilities or, climate permitting, waiting pens that are easy to clean and disinfect. These facilities must be equipped for watering the animals and, if necessary, feeding them. The drainage of the wastewater must not compromise food safety.
They must also have separate lockable facilities or, climate permitting, pens for sick or suspect animals with separate draining and sited in such a way as to avoid contamination of other animals, unless the competent authority considers that such facilities are unnecessary.
The size of the lairage facilities must ensure that the welfare of the animals is respected. Their layout must facilitate ante-mortem inspections, including the identification of the animals or groups of animals.
To avoid contaminating meat, they must:
have a sufficient number of rooms, appropriate to the operations being carried out;
have a separate room for the emptying and cleaning of stomachs and intestines, unless the competent authority authorises the separation in time of these operations within a specific slaughterhouse on a case-by-case basis;
ensure separation in space or time of the following operations:
stunning and bleeding;
in the case of porcine animals, scalding, depilation, scraping and singeing;
evisceration and further dressing;
handling clean guts and tripe;
preparation and cleaning of other offal, particularly the handling of skinned heads if it does not take place at the slaughter line;
packaging offal;
and
dispatching meat;
have installations that prevent contact between the meat and the floors, walls and fixtures;
and
have slaughter lines (where operated) that are designed to allow constant progress of the slaughter process and to avoid cross-contamination between the different parts of the slaughter line. Where more than one slaughter line is operated in the same premises, there must be adequate separation of the lines to prevent cross-contamination.
They must have facilities for disinfecting tools with hot water supplied at not less than 82 °C, or an alternative system having an equivalent effect.
The equipment for washing hands used by the staff engaged in handling exposed meat must have taps designed to prevent the spread of contamination.
There must be lockable facilities for the refrigerated storage of detained meat and separate lockable facilities for the storage of meat declared unfit for human consumption.
There must be a separate place with appropriate facilities for the cleaning, washing and disinfection of means of transport for livestock. However, slaughterhouses need not have these places and facilities if the competent authority so permits and official authorised places and facilities exist nearby.
They must have lockable facilities reserved for the slaughter of sick and suspect animals. This is not essential if this slaughter takes place in other establishments authorised by the competent authority for this purpose, or at the end of the normal slaughter period.
If manure or digestive tract content is stored in the slaughterhouse, there must be a special area or place for that purpose.
They must have an adequately equipped lockable facility or, where needed, room for the exclusive use of the veterinary service.
Food business operators must ensure that cutting plants handling meat of domestic ungulates:
are constructed so as to avoid contamination of meat, in particular by:
allowing constant progress of the operations;
or
ensuring separation between the different production batches;
have rooms for the separate storage of packaged and exposed meat, unless stored at different times or in such a way that the packaging material and the manner of storage cannot be a source of contamination for the meat;
have cutting rooms equipped to ensure compliance with the requirements laid down in Chapter V;
have equipment for washing hands with taps designed to prevent the spread of contamination, for use by staff engaged in handling exposed meat; and
have facilities for disinfecting tools with hot water supplied at not less than 82 °C, or an alternative system having an equivalent effect.
Food business operators operating slaughterhouses in which domestic ungulates are slaughtered must ensure compliance with the following requirements.
After arrival in the slaughterhouse, the slaughter of the animals must not be unduly delayed. However, where required for welfare reasons, animals must be given a resting period before slaughter.
Meat from animals other than those referred to in subparagraphs (b) and (c) must not be used for human consumption if they die otherwise than by being slaughtered in the slaughterhouse.
Only live animals intended for slaughter may be brought into the slaughter premises, with the exception of:
animals that have undergone emergency slaughter outside the slaughterhouse in accordance with Chapter VI;
animals slaughtered at the place of production in accordance with Section III;
and
wild game, in compliance with Section IV, Chapter II.
Meat from animals that undergo slaughter following an accident in a slaughterhouse may be used for human consumption if, on inspection, no serious lesions other than those due to the accident are found.
The animals or, where appropriate, each batch of animals sent for slaughter must be identified so that their origin can be traced.
Animals must be clean.
Slaughterhouse operators must follow the instructions of the veterinarian appointed by the competent authority in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 to ensure that ante-mortem inspection of every animal to be slaughtered is carried out under suitable conditions.
Animals brought into the slaughter hall must be slaughtered without undue delay.
Stunning, bleeding, skinning, evisceration and other dressing must be carried out without undue delay and in a manner that avoids contaminating the meat. In particular:
the trachea and oesophagus must remain intact during bleeding, except in the case of slaughter according to a religious custom;
during the removal of hides and fleece:
contact between the outside of the skin and the carcase must be prevented;
and
operators and equipment coming into contact with the outer surface of hides and fleece must not touch the meat;
measures must be taken to prevent the spillage of digestive tract content during and after evisceration and to ensure that evisceration is completed as soon as possible after stunning;
and
removal of the udder must not result in contamination of the carcase with milk or colostrum.
[X1Carcases and other parts of the body intended for human consumption must be completely skinned, except in the case of porcine animals, the heads of ovine and caprine animals and calves, the muzzle and lips of bovine animals and the feet of bovine, ovine and caprine animals. Heads, including muzzle and lips, and feet must be handled in such a way as to avoid contamination.]
When not skinned, porcine animals must have their bristles removed immediately. The risk of contamination of the meat with scalding water must be minimised. Only approved additives may be used for this operation. Porcine animals must be thoroughly rinsed afterwards with potable water.
The carcases must not contain visible faecal contamination. Any visible contamination must be removed without delay by trimming or alternative means having an equivalent effect.
Carcases and offal must not come into contact with floors, walls or work stands.
Slaughterhouse operators must follow the instructions of the competent authority to ensure that post-mortem inspection of all slaughtered animals is carried out under suitable conditions in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 854/2004.
Until post-mortem inspection is completed, parts of a slaughtered animal subject to such inspection must:
remain identifiable as belonging to a given carcase;
and
come into contact with no other carcase, offal or viscera, including those that have already undergone post-mortem inspection.
However, provided that it shows no pathological lesion, the penis may be discarded immediately.
Both kidneys must be removed from their fatty covering. In the case of bovine and porcine animals, and solipeds, the peri-renal capsule must also be removed.
If the blood or other offal of several animals is collected in the same container before completion of post-mortem inspection, the entire contents must be declared unfit for human consumption if the carcase of one or more of the animals concerned has been declared unfit for human consumption.
After post-mortem inspection:
[X1the tonsils of bovine animals, porcine animals and solipeds must be removed hygienically;]
parts unfit for human consumption must be removed as soon as possible from the clean sector of the establishment;
meat detained or declared unfit for human consumption and inedible by-products must not come into contact with meat declared fit for human consumption;
and
viscera or parts of viscera remaining in the carcase, except for the kidneys, must be removed entirely and as soon as possible, unless the competent authority authorises otherwise.
After completion of slaughter and post-mortem inspection, the meat must be stored in accordance with the requirements laid down in Chapter VII.
When destined for further handling:
stomachs must be scalded or cleaned;
intestines must be emptied and cleaned;
and
heads and feet must be skinned or scalded and depilated.
Where establishments are approved for the slaughter of different animal species or for the handling of carcases of farmed game and wild game, precautions must be taken to prevent cross-contamination by separation either in time or in space of operations carried out on the different species. Separate facilities for the reception and storage of unskinned carcases of farmed game slaughtered at the farm and for wild game must be available.
If the slaughterhouse does not have lockable facilities reserved for the slaughter of sick or suspect animals, the facilities used to slaughter such animals must be cleaned, washed and disinfected under official supervision before the slaughter of other animals is resumed.
Editorial Information
Food business operators must ensure that cutting and boning of meat of domestic ungulates takes place in accordance with the following requirements.
Carcases of domestic ungulates may be cut into half-carcases or quarters, and half carcases into no more than three wholesale cuts, in slaughterhouses. Further cutting and boning must be carried out in a cutting plant.
The work on meat must be organised in such a way as to prevent or minimise contamination. To this end, food business operators must ensure in particular that:
meat intended for cutting is brought into the workrooms progressively as needed;
during cutting, boning, trimming, slicing, dicing, wrapping and packaging, the meat is maintained at not more than 3 °C for offal and 7 °C for other meat, by means of an ambient temperature of not more than 12 °C or an alternative system having an equivalent effect;
and
where the premises are approved for the cutting of meat of different animal species, precautions are taken to avoid cross-contamination, where necessary by separation of the operations on the different species in either space or time.
However, meat may be boned and cut before it reaches the temperature referred to in point 2(b) in accordance with Chapter VII, point 3.
Meat may also be boned and cut prior to reaching the temperature referred to in point 2(b) when the cutting room is on the same site as the slaughter premises. In this case, the meat must be transferred to the cutting room either directly from the slaughter premises or after a waiting period in a chilling or refrigerating room. As soon as it is cut and, where appropriate, packaged, the meat must be chilled to the temperature referred to in point 2(b).
Food business operators must ensure that meat from domestic ungulates that have undergone emergency slaughter outside the slaughterhouse may be used for human consumption only if it complies with all the following requirements.
An otherwise healthy animal must have suffered an accident that prevented its transport to the slaughterhouse for welfare reasons.
A veterinarian must carry out an ante-mortem inspection of the animal.
The slaughtered and bled animal must be transported to the slaughterhouse hygienically and without undue delay. Removal of the stomach and intestines, but no other dressing, may take place on the spot, under the supervision of the veterinarian. Any viscera removed must accompany the slaughtered animal to the slaughterhouse and be identified as belonging to that animal.
If more than two hours elapse between slaughter and arrival at the slaughterhouse, the animal must be refrigerated. Where climatic conditions so permit, active chilling is not necessary.
A declaration by the food business operator who reared the animal, stating the identity of the animal and indicating any veterinary products or other treatments administered to the animal, dates of administration and withdrawal periods, must accompany the slaughtered animal to the slaughterhouse.
A declaration issued by the veterinarian recording the favourable outcome of the ante-mortem inspection, the date and time of, and reason for, emergency slaughter, and the nature of any treatment administered by the veterinarian to the animal, must accompany the slaughtered animal to the slaughterhouse.
The slaughtered animal must be fit for human consumption following post-mortem inspection carried out in the slaughterhouse in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 854/2004, including any additional tests required in the case of emergency slaughter.
Food business operators must follow any instructions that the official veterinarian may give after post-mortem inspection concerning the use of the meat.
Food business operators may not place meat from animals having undergone emergency slaughter on the market unless it bears a special health mark which cannot be confused either with the health mark provided for in Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 or with the identification mark provided for in Annex II, Section I to this Regulation. Such meat may be placed on the market only in the Member State where slaughter takes place and in accordance with national law.
Food business operators must ensure that the storage and transport of meat of domestic ungulates takes place in accordance with the following requirements.
Unless other specific provisions provide otherwise, post-mortem inspection must be followed immediately by chilling in the slaughterhouse to ensure a temperature throughout the meat of not more than 3 °C for offal and 7 °C for other meat along a chilling curve that ensures a continuous decrease of the temperature. However, meat may be cut and boned during chilling in accordance with Chapter V, point 4.
During the chilling operations, there must be adequate ventilation to prevent condensation on the surface of the meat.
Meat must attain the temperature specified in point 1 and remain at that temperature during storage.
Meat must attain the temperature specified in point 1 before transport, and remain at that temperature during transport. However, transport may also take place if the competent authority so authorises to enable the production of specific products, provided that:
such transport takes place in accordance with the requirements that the competent authority specifies in respect of transport from one given establishment to another;
and
the meat leaves the slaughterhouse, or a cutting room on the same site as the slaughter premises, immediately and transport takes no more than two hours.
Meat intended for freezing must be frozen without undue delay, taking into account where necessary a stabilisation period before freezing.
Exposed meat must be stored and transported separately from packaged meat, unless stored or transported at different times or in such a way that the packaging material and the manner of storage or transport cannot be a source of contamination for the meat.