S.I. No. 257/1994 - European Communities (Disposal, Processing and Placing on The Market of Animal By-Products) Regulations, 1994.

1. In the case of high-risk materials, samples of the finished products, taken directly after heat treatment, must be free from heat-resistant pathogenic bacteria spores (Clostridium perfringens absent in 1g of the product).

2. Samples of the final products from both low-risk and high-risk material taken during or upon withdrawal from storage at the processing plant must comply with the following standards

Salmonella: absence in 25g: n = 5, c = 0, m = 0, M = 0,

Enterobacteriaceae: n = 5, c = 2, m = 10, M = 3 x 10

2

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.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 3rd day of August, 1994.

JOE WALSH,

Minister for Agriculture, Food

and Forestry.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The purpose of these Regulations is to implement Council Directive No. 90/667/EEC of 27 November, 1990, as amended by Council Directive No. 92/118/EEC of 17 December, 1992 and Commission Decision No. 92/562/EEC of 17 November, 1992, laying down the veterinary rules for the disposal and processing of animal by-products, for their placing on the market and for the prevention of pathogens in feedingstuffs of animal or fish origin.

3. Persons working in the unclean section must not enter the clean 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.

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

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

6. Animal by-products must be processed under the following conditions

(

a

) high-risk 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;

(

c

) other systems of heat treatment may be used provided that they are approved in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 19 of the Council Directive.

Such alternative heat treatment systems may be approved only where the final product has been sampled on a daily basis over a period of one month to ensure compliance with the microbiological standards laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Chapter III. Subsequent routine sampling of the products as provided for in Regulation 7(1) must also be carried out.

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 processing plant in such a way as to preclude recontamination.

9. Hides must be salted using sodium chloride.

Chapter III.

Requirements Concerning the Products after Processing.

10. (1) Animal by-products must be transported in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule.

(2) The owner or person in charge of a vehicle in which animal by-products are being transported shall comply with the conditions relating to the transport of animal by-products specified in the Second Schedule and with any other conditions, including sealing, which a veterinary examiner or a marine veterinary examiner may decide are necessary for the purposes of this Regulation.

(3) Plants where high-risk and low-risk material is processed and other establishments using low-risk materials must keep records of receipt of animal by-product material. Such records must be retained, by a person who is for the time being the owner or operator of an establishment approved or registered, as the case may be, under these Regulations for a period of at least 2 years and these records must accord with the requirements of the Second Schedule.

(4) A person by whom records are kept in pursuance of these Regulations shall produce the records to, and allow them to be inspected by an authorised officer on a request being made in that behalf by such officer.

11. (1) A person shall not import high-risk material described in the First Schedule, Part I (

a

) to (

f

) from a third country.

(2) A person shall not import high-risk material as described in the First Schedule, Part I (

g

) to (

j

) or low-risk animal by-product from a third country unless the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, is satisfied that such material has undergone adequate treatment and complies with the standards of Chapter III of the Third Schedule and the relevant provisions of Directive No. 92/118/EEC of 17 December, 1992.

(3) Any animal by-product imported into the State from a third country in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation shall be eligible for trade in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 9.

12. In relation to the sale, offer for sale or importation into or exportation from the State of any goods, a person who is the owner of such goods or a person acting on his behalf or with his authority shall not hold out such goods as being an animal by-product complying with Regulations 5 and 6 if such goods do not so comply.

13. (1) An application for a certificate or for the authorisation of a commercial document required for the purposes of compliance with these Regulations shall be made to an authorised officer and shall be in such form and contain such particulars as the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, may require and, unless the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, otherwise agrees, such an application shall be received by the authorised officer to whom it is made not later than the day, being a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or a bank or public holiday, preceding the day on which the certificate or the authorisation of the commercial document is required by the applicant.

(2) A person shall not supply false or misleading particulars to an authorised officer for the purpose of obtaining a certificate or the authorisation of a commercial document.

14. (1) Where in relation to any animal by-product an authorised officer forms an opinion that there is a risk to public or animal health—

(

a

) he may seize any animal by-product, or

(

b

) he may serve or cause to be served on any person who is the owner of the animal by-product or an importer, or exporter of such animal by-product or the person who appears to such officer to be in control for the time being of such animal by-product a notice requiring either the owner, importer, exporter, or person in control for the time being of the animal by-product, that such by-product—

(i) be destroyed in such manner and at such place as the authorised officer shall direct, or

(ii) be used or disposed of in such manner as the authorised officer shall direct, and

(iii) any costs pertaining to action required under subparagraphs (i) and (ii) will be borne by the person on whom the notice is served.

(2) A requirement contained in a notice may specify a time limit within which it is to be complied with.

(3) A requirement specified in a notice served under paragraph (1) (in this paragraph referred to as "the earlier notice") may be modified or withdrawn in a further such notice and in that event the earlier notice shall have effect subject to such modification or withdrawal.

(4) A notice may require the owner, importer, exporter, or person in control for the time being of the animal by-product to choose between two or more of the requirements specified in the notice.

(5) A notice referred to in paragraph (1) may be served on the owner, importer, exporter, or person in control for the time being of the animal by-product by delivery of it by hand, or by sending it by prepaid registered post to or by leaving it at his last known place of abode or business.

(6) (

a

) An owner, importer, exporter or person in control for the time being of the animal by-product may appeal within 7 days of the seizure of such animal by-product or service of the notice under paragraph (1) to the Judge of the District Court having jurisdiction in the District Court District where such by-product is situated or to the Judge of the District Court having jurisdiction in the District Court District where the person bringing the appeal ordinarily resides or carries on business on the grounds that the seizure or the notice or any of the terms thereof are not justified having regard to the provisions of these Regulations.

(

b

) An appeal made pursuant to subparagraph (

a

) may be heard at any sitting of the District Court within the appropriate District Court District.

(

c

) (i) Notice of an appeal made pursuant to subparagraph (

a

) shall be served on the Minister, the Minister for Health or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, and the said notice shall be served at least 48 hours prior to the hearing of the appeal by serving it on the Minister, the Minister for Health or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, or by leaving it at the place and in the manner specified in the notice issued under this Regulation;

(ii) the notice of appeal shall contain a statement of the grounds upon which it is alleged that the seizure or the notice or any of the terms thereof are not justified.

(

d

) A copy of the notice of appeal shall be lodged with the District Court Clerk in the manner specified in the notice issued pursuant to paragraph (1), at least 48 hours prior to the hearing of the appeal.

(

e

) The Minister, the Minister for Health or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, shall, as well as the appellant, be entitled to be heard and to adduce evidence at the hearing of an appeal brought under paragraph (6) of this Regulation in opposition to an appeal made pursuant to this Regulation.

(7) On the hearing of an appeal under this Regulation a Judge of the District Court may, at his discretion, confirm, modify, or annul the action taken under paragraph (1).

(8) (

a

) No person including a person upon whom a notice has been served under paragraph (1), shall deal with the animal by-product concerned other than in accordance with the terms of the notice.

(

b

) In the event of an appeal against the terms of a notice referred to in subparagraph (

a

), pursuant to paragraph (6), no person, including the person appealing, shall deal with the animal by-product concerned pending the determination of the appeal other than in accordance with such directions as shall be given in writing to the appellant by an authorised officer.

(

c

) Where the terms of a notice referred to in subparagraph (

a

) are confirmed with or without modification by the Judge of the District Court hearing the appeal made under the said paragraph (6) no person, including the person who made the appeal, shall deal with the animal by-product concerned other than in accordance with such notice as confirmed.

(9) (

a

) where:—

(i) an owner, importer, exporter or a person for the time being in control of the animal by-product fails to comply with the terms of a notice served upon him under paragraph (1) within the time specified therein, or

(ii) an authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the terms of a notice served under paragraph (1) will not be complied with, or

(iii) a notice served under paragraph (1) has been confirmed with or without modification under paragraph (7) and the notice has not been complied with, or

(iv) an authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the terms of a notice served under paragraph (1) which has been confirmed with or without modification under paragraph (7) will not be complied with, or

(v) pending the determination of an appeal made pursuant to subparagraph (

a

) of paragraph (6), an authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing that directions given pursuant to paragraph (8) have not been or shall not be complied with,

an authorised officer may at any time seize the animal by-product at such premises or place as he thinks fit in the circumstances of the case.

(

b

) In relation to any seized animal by-product, an authorised officer may destroy it, or cause it to be destroyed in such manner and at such place as the authorised officer shall direct, or such animal by-product may be used or disposed of in such manner as the authorised officer shall direct.

(

c

) Any profits arising out of the disposal of the animal by-product referred to in subparagraph (

b

) shall be paid to the owner of such animal by-product less any expenses incurred in connection with the said disposal.

(10) The costs of disposal or destruction of an animal by-product under this Regulation shall, subject to the provisions of subparagraph (9) (

c

), be recoverable by the Minister, the Minister for Health or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from the person who was the owner of such animal by-product at the time the disposal or destruction was carried out.

(11) In this Regulation:—

"animal by-product" includes any goods represented to an authorised officer as being an animal by-product;

"importer" and "exporter" include any person who, whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent or broker is in possession of or in any way entitled to the custody or control of the animal by-product which is being or has been imported into or exported from the State.

15. (1) In these Regulations, "authorised officer" means—

(

a

) a veterinary examiner or other officer of the Minister appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations,

(

b

) in relation to all premises other than those approved or registered by the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, and means of transport, and for the purposes of Regulation 4, paragraphs (3), (5), (6), (7), (8) and (9) of Regulation 6, paragraphs (2) and (3) of Regulation 7, Regulation 8, Regulation 10 in so far as it relates to the Second Schedule and Regulations 14 and 18 and paragraph (

b

) of Part I of the First Schedule, an officer authorised by the Minister for Health or an authorised officer within the meaning of the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1950 to 1989,

(

c

) in relation to all premises other than those approved or registered by the Minister or the Minister for Health, as the case may be, and means of transport, and for the purposes of Regulations 4 and 5, paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), (8) and (9) of Regulation 6, paragraphs (2) and (3) of Regulation 7, Regulation 8, paragraphs (3), (4) and (5) of Regulation 9, Regulation 10 in so far as it relates to the Second Schedule and Regulations 11, 13, 14, 16 and 18 and paragraph (

b

) of Part I of the First Schedule, a marine veterinary examiner or other officer authorised by the Minister for the Marine.

(2) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment by the Minister or the Minister for Health or the Chief Executive Officer of a health board on instruction from the Minister for Health or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be, as an authorised officer and when exercising any power conferred on him by these Regulations such officer shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

(3) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (1), an authorised officer or a veterinary expert from the Commission may at all reasonable times enter—

(

a

) an establishment approved or registered under Regulation 6 or for which an application for approval or registration has been received or a premises issued a licence under Regulation 5 or for which an application for a licence has been received; and

(

b

) any other land, premises, structure or other place in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that—

(i) there are animals (whether alive or dead or slaughtered or not) from which animal by-products are intended to be or are derived, or

(ii) there are kept animal by-products either on importation from or for export to a Member State or third country, or

(iii) there are kept animal by-products which he reasonably believes to have been produced in contravention of these Regulations or the Council Directive, and

(

c

) any railway wagon, vehicle, aircraft, ship or other vessel, or any other means of transport, in which he has reasonable grounds for believing that any animal by-product is either destined for export to or imported from a Member State or third country, or being kept for transport, import or export, or there is kept animal by-products which he reasonably believes to have been produced in contravention of these Regulations or the Council Directive,

and either there or at any other place:—

(A) make such examinations and tests, and

(B) take such reasonable samples of any animal by-products, which he finds in the course of his inspection, and

(C) inspect, take or take copies of or extracts from any books, documents, or other records which he finds in the course of his inspection,

as he may consider appropriate for the purposes of these Regulations and the Council Directive.

16. (1) A person shall not make or cause to be made, order, import, purchase, sell, offer or expose for sale an approved seal or anything purporting to be an approved seal, save with the consent in writing of the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be.

(2) A person shall not print or cause to be printed, order, import, purchase, sell, offer or expose for sale a certificate for the purposes of these Regulations ("a certificate") or any document purporting to be or in any way resembling a certificate save with the consent in writing of the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, as the case may be.

(3) A person shall not have in his possession or under his control a certificate or any document purporting to be or in any way resembling a certificate unless he is—

(i) an authorised officer or an officer of the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, or

(ii) a person who is in possession or control of the certificate or document with the consent in writing of the Minister or the Minister for the Marine, or

(iii) a person who is in possession or control of the certificate or document, in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.

(4) A person shall not procure by fraud or by misrepresentation, forge, or without lawful authority or excuse, alter or tamper with, any document purporting to be a certificate or a properly authorised commercial document or any other document purporting to be issued under these Regulations or for the purposes of the Council Directive or any thing purporting to be an approved seal not utter any such certificate, document or seal knowing it to be procured by fraud or by misrepresentation, forged, altered or tampered with.

(5) A person shall not apply an approved seal or any thing purporting to be an approved seal to any means of transport of animal by-products unless he is an authorised officer.

(6) Nothing in paragraph (1) or (2) shall be construed as prohibiting the importation of a certificate or a seal where such importation is for the purpose only of complying with Regulations 9 and 11.

17. (1) (

a

) There may be charged by the Minister in respect of an approval under Regulation 6 and in relation to the performance of functions under these Regulations such fees as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(

b

) A fee charged under this Regulation shall be payable by the owner or person in charge of the establishment to which the approval concerned relates and the Minister may refuse to grant or may revoke an approval until such fee has been paid.

(2) Fees under this Regulation shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister directs and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance.

(3) A fee payable under this Regulation may be recovered by the Minister from the person by whom it is payable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(4) A fee charged under this Regulation shall not exceed an amount equal to the costs, estimated by the Minister, incurred in relation to the approval concerned and the performance of functions under these Regulations to the establishment concerned by authorised officers for the purposes of the approval.

(5) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of fees charged under this Regulation.

18. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted by the Minister, the Minister for Health or a health board, in whose functional area the offence was committed, or the Minister for the Marine.

19. (1) Any person who contravenes a provision of these Regulations or a condition of a licence granted under these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) If any person fraudulently—

(

a

) tampers or otherwise interferes with any animal by-product so as to procure that any sample of it taken under these Regulations does not correctly represent the animal by-product, or

(

b

) tampers or otherwise interferes with any sample taken under these Regulations,

he shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Any person who obstructs or otherwise interferes with an authorised officer in the exercise of a power conferred on him by these Regulations or fails or refuses to comply with a request made by or to a question asked by such officer pursuant to these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(5) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate or by a person acting on behalf of a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other official of such body, each such person shall be guilty of an offence.

20. These Regulations are in addition to and not in substitution for the

Diseases of Animals Act, 1966

(No. 6 of 1966) and Orders made under or continued in force by that Act.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

High-Risk Animal By-products.

Part I.

(

a

) All bovine animals, pigs, goats, sheep, solipeds, poultry and all other animals kept for agricultural production, which have died on the farm but were not slaughtered for human consumption, including stillborn and unborn animals;

(

b

) dead animals not referred to at (

a

) above but which are considered by an authorised officer to be a danger to public or animal health;

(

c

) animals which are killed in the context of disease control measures either on the farm or in any other place designated by the Minister;

(

d

) animal by-products including blood originating from animals which show, during veterinary inspection carried out at the time of slaughtering, clinical signs of diseases communicable to man or other animals;

(

e

) all those parts of an animal slaughtered in the normal way which are not presented for post mortem inspection, with the exception of hides, skins, hooves, feathers, wool, horns, blood and similar products;

(

f

) all meat, poultrymeat, fish, game and foodstuffs of animal origin which are spoiled and thus present a risk to human and animal health;

(

g

) animals, fresh meat, poultrymeat, fish, game, and meat and milk products, imported from third countries, which fail to comply with the veterinary requirements for their importation into the Community, unless they are re-exported or their import is accepted under restrictions laid down in Community provisions;

(

h

) farm animals which have died in transit, other than those slaughtered for reasons of welfare;

(

i

) animal by-products containing residues of substances which may pose a danger to human or animal health; milk, meat or products of animal origin rendered unfit for human consumption by the presence of such residues;

(

j

) fish which show clinical signs of diseases communicable to man or to fish.

Low-Risk Animal By-products.

Part II.

(

a

) Animal by-products other than those listed in Part I of this Schedule which do not present serious risks of spreading communicable diseases to animals or man;

(

b

) products excluded from Part I (

e

) of this Schedule in so far as they are used in the manufacture of feedingstuffs;

(

c

) fish caught in the open sea for the purposes of fishmeal production;

(

d

) fresh fish offal from plants manufacturing fish products for human consumption.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Requirements for the Collection and Transport of Animal By-products.

S.I. No. 257 of 1994.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (DISPOSAL, PROCESSING AND PLACING ON THE MARKET OF ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS) REGULATIONS, 1994.

I, JOE WALSH, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by

section 3

of the

European Communities Act, 1972

(No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 90/667/EEC

(1)

of 27 November, 1990 as amended by Council Directive No. 92/118/EEC

(2)

of 17 December, 1992 and Commission Decision No. 92/562/EEC

(3)

of 17 November, 1992, hereby make the following Regulations

(1)

O.J. No. L363 of 27.12.1990, p. 51.

(2)

O.J. No. L62 of 15.3.1993, p. 49.

(3)

O.J. No. L359 of 9.12.1992, p. 23.