POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 36.38

POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE REGULATIONS

1st July, 1995;

1st July, 1998.

LEGAL NOTICE 93 of 1995.

The title of these Regulations is Poultry Slaughterhouse

Regulations.

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires -

"assistant staff" means trained persons officially designated by

the Director;

"approved slaughterhouse" means a slaughterhouse which

complies with these Regulations and which has been inspected and

approved by the Director;

"licensee" means a person who is licensed in terms of regulation

3 of these Regulations to keep a poultry slaughterhouse;

"Director" means the Director responsible for veterinary

services;

"offal" means fresh meat other than that of carcass as herein

defined;

"viscera" means offal from thoracic, abdominal and pelvic

cavities, including trachea, oesophagus and crop;

"drinking water" means water which is of such quality as to be fit

for human consumption;

"carcass" means the whole body of a fowl after bleeding,

plucking and evisceration; however the removal of kidneys, legs at

the tarsus or of the head shall be optional;

"fresh poultry meat" means all parts of the animal which are fit

for human consumption and which have not undergone any

preserving process other than chilling or freezing;

"poultry" means fowl, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea fowls,

domestic and racing pigeons, quails, pheasants and partridges;

"ante-mortem health inspection" means the inspection of live

poultry by an official veterinarian within one hour prior to

slaughter;

" post-mortem health inspection" means the inspection of

slaughtered poultry in the slaughterhouse immediately after

slaughter in accordance with current regulations;

"official veterinarian" means the veterinarian appointed by the

Director.

(1) No person shall keep a poultry slaughterhouse whether

as owner, part owner or helper unless he holds a licence issued to

him by the Director.

(2) No premises shall be used as a poultry slaughterhouse

unless such premises are licensed by the Director to be used as

such.

(3) The Director may only grant a licence for the keeping of a

poultry slaughterhouse after considering an application therefor,

and after he has ascertained that all the requirements listed in these

Regulations and any further requirements he may have requested

the applicant to perform, have been satisfied.

(4) The licensee shall be responsible for the running of the

poultry slaughterhouse according to these Regulations and the

Director may at any time revoke a licence if it is found lacking in

any of the conditions mentioned in the licence, or if in the opinion

of the Director there is a risk of spread of disease.

(5) Licences shall be valid for one calendar year and may be

renewed from year to year after inspection by an official

veterinarian.

(6) The official veterinarian, or any health inspector appointed

by the Director, shall have the power of entry to inspect the poultry

slaughterhouse whenever the Director deems it necessary.

(7) No extensions or alterations in any poultry slaughterhouse

may be carried out unless previously authorised by the Director.

(8) The Director shall keep a poultry slaughterhouse register in

which there shall be kept the following information

(i) veterinary approval number;

(ii) name, address and telephone number of licensee;

(iii) name, address and telephone number of the

manager;

(iv) address and telephone number of the poultry

slaughterhouse;

(v) site-plan, elevation plan, building layout plan

and equipment layout plan of the poultry

slaughterhouse.

(9) The licensee shall be responsible for any premises used in

the poultry slaughterhouse and such premises shall be either

constructed or removed as specified in these Regulations.

The poultry slaughterhouse shall be at least two hundred

metres away from inhabited areas, livestock farms and any

industrial or other structures that may emit fumes or other materials

that may contaminate poultry meat. Any existing poultry

slaughterhouses that do not comply with this condition shall be

allowed to operate; however if such a slaughterhouse ceases to

operate for a continuous period of six months or more its licence

shall not be renewed.

(1) A poultry slaughterhouse shall be surrounded by a

security fence or wall and gates to control traffic. The area within

the boundary wall shall be kept free from rodents and other

animals.

(2) The poultry slaughterhouse shall be divided into a dirty

area and a clean area.

(3) Transport and unloading of live poultry, collection and

elimination of any waste products shall be carried out in the dirty

(4) All slaughtering procedures, storing, loading and transport

of poultry meat shall be carried out in the clean area.

(5) No vehicles shall be allowed into the clean area unless

previously cleaned and disinfected.

Poultry slaughterhouses must have

(a) a room or covered space which is sufficiently large and

easy to cleanse and disinfect, for the ante-mortem

inspection of poultry;

(b) a special room which is easy to cleanse and disinfect,

exclusively for poultry suffering from, or suspected to

be suffering from, disease;

(c) a slaughter room large enough for stunning and

bleeding on the one hand, and plucking and any

scalding on the other, to be carried out in separate

places

Provided that any communication between the

slaughter room and the room referred to in paragraph

(a) above, other than a narrow opening through which

only slaughtered poultry may pass, must have an

automatically closing door;

(d) an evisceration and preparation room which is large

enough for evisceration to be carried out in a place

sufficiently far away from the other work stations, or

separated from them by a partition, so as to prevent

contamination. Any communication between the

evisceration and preparation room and the slaughter

room, other than the narrow opening through which

only slaughtered poultry may pass, must have an

automatically closing door;

(e) a dispatching room, if necessary;

(f)

one room or more sufficiently large fur chilling and/or

refrigeration;

(g) cold stores. Where cold stores are situated outside the

slaughterhouse they must be licensed and shall be

supervised by an official veterinarian. The Director

shall be responsible for approving these stores and for

withdrawing the approval. The cold stores shall be

equipped with a thermograph sealed by the Director or

officials delegated by him. The premises shall be

subject to inspection at any time without notice by the

Superintendent of Public Health or by an authorised

officer on his behalf;

POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE

(h) a room or space for collecting of feathers unless these

are treated as waste;

(i)

lockable premises, situated separately from the other

rooms in the processing area, which are temperature

controlled and reserved for the separate storage of

poultry meat which has been temporarily detained and

of unhealthy meat declared unfit for human

consumption and waste, where such meat and waste is

not removed each day from the slaughterhouse;

(j)

a room which is temperature controlled and situated

separately from the other rooms in the processing area,

exclusively for the technical treatment or destruction

of poultry meat declared unfit for human consumption,

meat which is excluded from use for human

consumption and waste and by-products from

slaughter, intended for industrial purposes, if such

technical treatment or destruction is carried out on the

premises;

(k) changing rooms, wash basins, showers and flush

lavatories; the latter shall not open directly onto the

work rooms; the wash basins shall be near the

lavatories and shall have hot and cold running water,

materials for cleansing and disinfecting the hands, and

disposable hand towels;

(l)

a facility or arrangement to be approved by the

Director, for the disposal of dung unless dung is

immediately and hygienically removed;

(m) a place and adequate facilities for cleansing and

disinfecting of cages and vehicles;

(n) an adequately equipped, lockable room for the

exclusive use of the veterinary services;

(o) in the work rooms, adequate equipment for the

cleansing and disinfecting of hands and tools; such

equipment must be as near as possible to the work

stations and taps must not be hand operable; these

facilities must have hot and cold running water,

cleaning and disinfecting products and disposable

hand towels; for cleansing instruments the temperature

of the water must be of not less than 82 degrees

Celsius;

(p) facilities enabling the veterinary inspections provided

for in these Regulations to be carried out efficiently at

any time;

(q) an adequate surrounding wall or other means of

enclosure;

(r)

without prejudice to paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d)

above, adequate separation of the clean area from the

contaminated parts of the building;

(s)

in the rooms mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (i) above

-

waterproof flooring, which is easy to cleanse

and disinfect, and so constructed that water can

drain away easily;

-

smooth walls with light coloured washable

coating or paint at a height of at least two

metres, with rounded edges and corners;

(t)

adequate natural or artificial lighting which does not

distort colours in the rooms set aside for live or

slaughtered poultry;

(u) an adequate supply of hot and cold drinking water

under pressure and a water disposal system which

meets hygienic requirements;

(v) proper equipment for protection against pests such as

insects and rodents;

(w) instruments and any equipment that comes into

contract with poultry during processing and storage

which are made of non-corrodible material and are

easy to cleanse and disinfect;

(x) special air-tight and water-tight non-corrodible

containers which cannot be forced open, for collecting

meat which has been declared unfit for human

consumption.

Absolute cleanliness shall be required of staff, premises,

equipment and instruments, as follows

(a) staff must in particular wear clean working clothes and

headgear which are of a light colour and easily

washable. Staff who slaughter animals and work on

and handle meat shall wash and disinfect their hands

several times during each working day and each time

they resume work. Persons who have been in contact

with sick animals or infected meat must immediately

afterwards carefully wash their hands and arms in hot

water and then disinfect them. Smoking shall be

forbidden in work rooms and storerooms;

(b) no dogs, cats or animals other than the poultry

intended for slaughter may enter slaughterhouses.

Rodents, insects and vermin shall be systematically

destroyed;

(c) the rooms mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d)

and (e) of regulation 6 must be cleansed and

disinfected as necessary and at all events at the end of

the day’s work;

(d) cages for delivering poultry must be made of non-

corrodible material, be easy to clean and disinfect and

have waterproof floors. They must be cleaned and

disinfected each time they are emptied;

(e) equipment and instruments used for slaughtering,

working on and the storing of meat must be kept clean

and in a good state of repair. They must be carefully

cleaned and disinfected several times during each

POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE

working day, at the end of the day’s work and before

being used again if they have been contaminated;

(f)

containers for unhealthy meat unfit for human

consumption and for offal shall be emptied after use

and cleansed and disinfected each time they are

emptied.

The following requirements shall be further observed by

the licensee

(a) Premises, instruments, working equipment and plant

used for slaughtering work and storing meat must be

used solely for these purposes.

(b) Poultry meat and containers thereof must not come

into direct contact with the ground.

(c) Feathers must be taken away immediately after

plucking.

(d) The use of disinfectants, detergents and pesticides

must not affect the fitness of the meat for

consumption.

(e) Persons who may contaminate meat shall be prohibited

from slaughtering or handling it, in particular if such

persons are

-

suffering from or suspected of suffering from

typhoid fever, paratyphoid A and B,

salmonellosis, dysentery, hepatitis, gastro-

enteritis, scarlet fever or carriers of these

diseases;

-

suffering or suspected of suffering from a

contagious or infectious skin disease;

-

exercising at the same time an activity which

might cause microbes to be transmitted to meat;

-

wearing a bandage on the hands, other than a

water-proof dressing protecting a non-infected

wound.

(f)

A medical certificate shall be required from every

person working on poultry meat, attesting that there is

no impediment to such employment; the certificate

must be renewed annually and whenever requested by

the official veterinarian; it shall always be available to

the latter.

The licensee shall ensure that all employees in

his establishment shall be educated on the importance

of personal hygiene and basic food safety principles.

The licensee shall also be responsible for maintaining

amongst his employees an awareness of any possible

medical condition that may develop which might affect

their employment.

(g) Poultry for slaughter must undergo ante-mortem

inspection within twenty-four hours of arrival at the

slaughterhouse. The inspection must be repeated

immediately before slaughter if more than twenty-four

hours have elapsed since the ante-mortem inspection.

The ante-mortem inspection may be restricted to

detecting injuries received during transport if the

poultry has been inspected at the farm of origin within

the last twenty-four hours and found to be healthy. In

addition, the identity of the poultry must be proved on

arrival at the slaughterhouse.

(h) The ante-mortem inspection must be carried out under

suitable lighting and must determine

-

whether the poultry is suffering from a disease

which can be transmitted to humans or animals,

whether it shows symptoms, or whether its

general condition is such as to indicate that the

disease may occur;

-

whether it shows symptoms of a disorder

affecting its general condition which may make

the meat unfit for human consumption.

(i)

Poultry suffering from fowl plague, Newcastle disease,

rabies, salmonellosis, cholera or ornithosis shall be

declared unfit for human consumption.

(j)

Poultry may not be slaughtered

for

human

consumption as fresh meat where -

-

from the presence of sick poultry in the

slaughterhouse,

-

and from health information relating to their

origin,

it is established that they have been in contact with

birds suffering from fowl plague, Newcastle disease,

rabies, salmonellosis, cholera or ornithosis in such

circumstances that the disease might have been

transmitted to them.

(k) The poultry referred to in paragraphs (h), (i) or (j)

above must be slaughtered separately and after the

slaughter of all other poultry.

(l)

Poultry brought into slaughter premises must be

slaughtered immediately after stunning.

(m) Bleeding must be complete and carried out in such a

way that the blood cannot cause contamination outside

the place of slaughter.

(n) Slaughtered poultry must be plucked immediately and

completely.

(o) Evisceration must be carried out immediately. The

carcass must be opened in such a way that the cavities

and all the viscera can be inspected. For this purpose

the liver, spleen and digestive tract must be extruded

from the carcass in such a way that it is not

contaminated and that the natural connections of those

viscera remain until inspection.

POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE

(p) After inspection the viscera which have been removed

must be separated immediately from the carcass, and

the parts unfit far human consumption removed at

once. Viscera and parts of viscera remaining in the

carcass must, with the exception of the kidneys, be

removed entirely, if possible under satisfactory

hygienic conditions.

(q) It is forbidden to inflate poultry meat, cleanse it with

cloth or fill the carcass with anything other than edible

offal from poultry slaughtered in the slaughterhouse.

Parts of poultry and offal must be packed in the

manner described in paragraphs (y) and (z) of this

regulation.

(r)

It is forbidden to cut the carcass or remove or treat the

poultry meat before the inspection has been

completed. The official veterinarian may prescribe any

other handling required by the inspection.

(s)

Detained meat declared unfit for human consumption,

feathers and waste must be removed as soon as

possible to the rooms, spaces or containers provided

for in paragraphs (h), (i) and (j) of regulation 6 and

must be so handled that contamination is kept to a

minimum.

(t)

After inspection and evisceration fresh poultry meat

must be immediately cleaned and chilled in such a

manner as to ensure that a continuous high level of

hygiene is maintained.

(u) All parts of the animal must be inspected immediately

after slaughter. Post-mortem inspection must be

carried out under suitable lighting.

(v) The health markings must be made under the

responsibility of the official veterinarian, who shall

keep and maintain for that purpose

-

instruments for making the health marking on

meat, to be handed to the assistant staff only at

the actual time of marking and for the length of

time necessary for this purpose;

-

labels and wrappers where these already bear the

stamp or mark provided for in paragraph (w)

below and the seals referred to in paragraph (w)

below. These labels, wrappers and seals shall be

handed over in the required number to the

assistant staff at the time when they must be

used.

(w) The health marking shall consist of the following

(i)

the seal must be such that it cannot be re-used; it

must be of resistant material meeting all

hygienic requirements and large enough for the

following compulsory information to appear on

it in perfectly legible characters

-

in the centre, the veterinary approval number

of the slaughterhouse,

- date of slaughter or batch number that

indicates such a date.

The letters and figures must be at least two

millimetres high;

(ii) for packed carcasses and parts of carcasses, a

mark stamped on the wrapper, which is closed in

such a way that it cannot be re-used after

opening. The wrapper must be of sufficiently

strong material which meets all hygienic

requirements, which is transparent and cannot

transmit to the meat substances which may alter

the nature, substance or quality of the food or

which are harmful to human health; the mark

must give the same information as that required

for the seal and be printed in characters of the

same size;

(iii) for the offal not contained in the carcass, a mark

stamped on the wrapper which must be closed,

as described under sub-paragraph (ii) above or a

stamp impressed on a label which is clearly

visible and firmly fixed to the packaging. The

label must be attached in such a way that it is

destroyed when the packaging is opened. The

stamp must be an oval ink stamp six point five

centimetres wide and four point five centimetres

high. The following information must appear on

it in perfectly legible characters

- veterinary

approval

number

of

the

slaughterhouse;

- batch number.

The letters must be point eight centimetres high

and the figures one point one centimetres high.

(x) After the chilling provided for in paragraph (t), fresh

poultry meat must be kept at a temperature that must

not at any time exceed + 4 degrees Celsius.

(y) Packaging (e.g. packing cases, paperboard boxes) must

meet all hygienic requirements, in particular

-

they may not affect the oganoleptic character of

the meat;

-

they may not transmit to the meat substances

which are harmful to human health;

-

they must be strong enough to protect the meat

adequately during transport and handling.

Packing may only be re-used for meat when they are

made of non-corrodible material which is easy to

cleanse and has first bean cleaned and disinfected.

(z) When fresh meat is packed in a packing material (e.g.

plastic sheet) which is in direct contact with it, this

must be done in accordance with hygienic

requirements. Such packing must be transparent,

colourless and meet the requirements of paragraph (y)

above; they may rot be re-used for packing meat. Parts

of poultry or offal separated from the carcass must

always be wrapped in a firmly sealed, protective cover

satisfying the above criteria.

(1) Fresh poultry meat must be transported in vehicles and/

or containers designed, equipped and maintained in such a manner

that the temperature specified in paragraph (x) of regulation 8 is

ensured throughout transportation. The person responsible for this

transportation is to ensure that the temperature is maintained below

+ 4 degrees Celsius.

(2) The vehicles and container used for the transportation of

fresh poultry meat may not be used for any other purpose and are to

be kept in a state of hygiene which prevents contamination of the

food by odour or otherwise. After unloading of these products,

vehicles and containers must be thoroughly cleansed, disinfected

and, where necessary, deodorised.

(3) Fresh poultry meat may only be transported at the same

time as substances likely to affect it or give it a smell if appropriate

precautions are taken.

(4) Fresh poultry meat may not be transported in vehicles and/

or containers which or not clean and disinfected.

(5) The official veterinarian shall ensure before loading that the

transport vehicles and/or the containers, besides the loading

conditions, comply with the hygienic requirements of these

Regulations.