Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (repealed)Show full title

A. Community scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals

I. Definitions

The following definitions shall apply:

1.

’carcass’: the whole body of a slaughtered animal as presented after bleeding, evisceration and skinning;

2.

’half-carcass’: the product obtained by separating the carcass referred to in point (1) symmetrically through the middle of each cervical, dorsal, lumbar and sacral vertebra and through the middle of the sternum and the ischiopubic symphysis.

II. Categories

The carcasses shall be divided into the following categories:

A

:

carcasses of uncastrated young male animals of less than two years of age;

B

:

carcasses of other uncastrated male animals;

C

:

carcasses of castrated male animals;

D

:

carcasses of female animals that have calved;

E

:

carcasses of other female animals.

III. Classification

The carcasses shall be classified by successive assessment of:

1.

Conformation, defined as follows:

Development of carcass profiles, in particular the essential parts (round, back, shoulder)

Conformation class	Description
S Superior	All profiles extremely convex; exceptional muscle development (double muscled carcass type)
E Excellent	All profiles convex to super-convex; exceptional muscle development
U Very good	Profiles on the whole convex, very good muscle development
R Good	Profiles on the whole straight; good muscle development
O Fair	Profiles straight to concave; average muscle development
P Poor	All profiles concave to very concave; poor muscle development

2.

Fat cover, defined as follows:

Amount of fat on the outside of the carcass and in the thoracic cavity

Class of fat cover	Description
1 low	None up to low fat cover
2 slight	Slight fat cover, flesh visible almost everywhere
3 average	Flesh with the exception of the round and shoulder, almost everywhere covered with fat, slight deposits of fat in the thoracic cavity
4 high	Flesh covered with fat, but on the round and shoulder still partly visible, some distinctive fat deposits in the thoracic cavity
5 very high	Entire carcass covered with fat; heavy deposits in the thoracic cavity

Member States shall be authorised to subdivide each of the classes provided for in points 1. and 2. into a maximum of three subclasses.

IV. Presentation

Carcasses and half-carcasses shall be presented:

1.

without the head and without the feet; the head shall be separated from the carcass at the atloido-occipital joint and the feet shall be severed at the carpametacarpal or tarsometatarsal joints,

2.

without the organs contained in the thoracic and abdominal cavities with or without the kidneys, the kidney fat and the pelvic fat,

3.

without the sexual organs and the attached muscles and without the udder or the mammary fat.

For the purpose of establishing market prices, a different presentation may be set out in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 195(2).

V. Classification and identification

Slaughterhouses approved under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin(1) shall take measures to ensure that all carcasses or half-carcasses from adult bovine animals slaughtered in such slaughterhouses and bearing a health mark provided for Article 5(2) in conjunction with Chapter III of Section I of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption(2) are classified and identified in accordance with the Community scale.

Before identification by marking, Member States may grant authorisation to have the external fat removed from the carcasses or half-carcasses if this is justified by the fat cover.

(1)

OJ L 139, 30.4.2004, p. 55. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1791/2006 (OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 1).

(2)

OJ L 139, 30.4.2004, p. 206. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1791/2006.