Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order (Northern Ireland) 1999

PART I Introductory

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 3rd September 1999.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

• “affected” in relation to any animal, means affected with the disease;

• “animal” means a bull, cow, steer, heifer or calf;

• “carcase” means the carcase of an animal including its intestinal contents;

• “cull cows” means adult female animals which have had one or more calves and which are being sold for immediate slaughter;

• “the disease” means bovine spongiform encephalopathy;

• “Divisional Veterinary Officer” means a Divisional Veterinary Officer of the Department;

• “exposed” in relation to any animal means exposed in any way to the infection of the disease;

• “feedingstuff” has the meaning assigned to it by section 66(1) of the Agriculture Act 1970(1);

• “fertiliser” has the meaning assigned to it by the Agriculture Act 1970;

• “livestock” means any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skin or fur or (excluding a dog) for use in the farming of land;

• “mammalian meat and bone meal” means—

  (a)

  mammalian protein (including greaves) derived from the whole or part of any dead mammal by—

  (i)

  the process of rendering, or

  (ii)

  in the case of an imported product, by an equivalent process; or

  (b)

  any material derived from such protein;

• “MBM product” means any product containing mammalian meat and bone meal;

• “market” means a market place, sale yard or other premises or place in or upon which animals are exhibited for the purpose of public sale;

• “the 1981 Order” means the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981;

• “premises” means all contiguous land and buildings occupied by a person together with other land or buildings occupied by that person which use equipment in common with the contiguous land;

• “production” includes the manufacture, mixing or packaging of any product, together with ancillary storage and transport operations;

• “protein” means any protein material which is derived from the carcase of any kind of mammal except man but does not include—

  (a)

  milk or any milk product;

  (b)

  dicalcium bone phosphate;

  (c)

  dried plasma or any other blood product;

  (d)

  gelatin; or

  (e)

  amino acids produced from hides and skins by a process which involves exposure of the material to acid of pH lower than 2 followed by alkali of pH greater than 11 and heat treatment at a minimum 140 161 C for 30 minutes at a pressure of 3 bar;

• “rendering” has the same meaning as in the Specified Risk Material Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997(2);

• “research establishment” means an establishment carrying out research into the disease;

• “return” means a document furnished to the Department by the person or persons operating a market at a place listed in Article 16 which shows for a week ending on a Saturday the number of—

  (a)

  commercial grade cows and in-calf heifers both of which are intended for use in the production of milk sold at that market and the total sale price for such animals in that week at that market; and

  (b)

  cull cows for slaughter sold at that market and the total sale price for such animals in that week at that market;

• “securely packaged” in relation to any material means that the material is contained in a sealed bag or other container from which no part of it can escape, and which is made of such a material and in such a manner that any damage which may forseeably be sustained in normal handling and storage operations would not permit the escape of any material from that bag or container;

• “sell” includes have in possession for sale or offer or expose for sale;

• “slaughter-house” means any building, premises or place including a knackers yard used in connection with the business of killing animals; and

• “suspected” in relation to any animal means suspected of being affected.

Extension of definitions of animals and poultry

3.  For the purposes of the 1981 Order in its application to this Order—

(a) the list of animals in Part I of Schedule 1 to the 1981 Order is hereby extended so as to comprise—

(i) any kind of mammal except man; and

(ii) any kind of four-footed beast which is not a mammal; and

(b) the list of poultry in Part II of Schedule 1 to the 1981 Order is hereby extended so as to comprise birds of any species.

(1)

1970 c. 40. Section 66 as substituted by regulation 20 of the Feeding Stuffs Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (S.R. 1995 No. 451); regulation 3 of those Regulations prescribes descriptions of animals for the purpose of the definition

(2)

S.R. 1997 No. 552