The Animal By-Products Order 1999

Sampling the rendered product

9.—(1) If rendered material is intended for use in feedingstuffs (other than swill or petfood) then the operator of a rendering plant shall act in accordance with this article.

(2) The operator shall establish and use an identification system which makes it possible to identify each rendered batch.

(3) In the case of rendered material derived from high risk material, the operator shall, once every week—

(a) take from the outlet of each cooker in use at the premises a sample of at least 50 grams of freshly rendered proteinaceous material; and

(b) send the sample to an approved laboratory for testing for Clostridium perfringens.

(4) In the case of all rendered material, the operator shall, on each day that the material is consigned from the premises—

(a) take samples of the rendered proteinaceous material using one of the methods specified in Part I of Schedule 3 and aggregate the samples to produce a final sample in accordance with that method; and

(b) send the final sample to an approved laboratory for testing for Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae.

(5) Whenever an operator sends a sample to an approved laboratory, he shall send with the sample the following information in writing—

(a) the name and address of the premises at which the sample was taken;

(b) the date on which the sample was taken; and

(c) the identity of the sample.

(6) No person shall tamper with a sample taken under this article with intent to affect the result of a test.

(7) If the test demonstrates that the rendered material does not comply with the microbiological standards in article 3(2), then the operator shall—

(a) immediately notify the appropriate Minister of the full details of the nature of the sample and the lot from which it was derived;

(b) ensure that no further rendered material suspected or known to be contaminated is moved from the premises unless—

(i) he takes all necessary measures to ensure that it is not used for feedingstuffs; or

(ii) it has been re-rendered under the supervision of the appropriate Minister and resampled and re-tested by the appropriate Minister, and the re-testing has shown that the re-rendered material complies with the microbiological standards in article 3(2);

(c) establish the causes of failure of compliance;

(d) increase the rate of sampling and testing of rendered material; and

(e) instigate appropriate decontamination and cleaning procedures within the premises.