The Specified Risk Material Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Approved rendering plants

24.—(1) Upon the Department being satisfied that any premises have the facilities specified in Part I of Schedule 1 sufficient to ensure that specified risk material is separated into protein and tallow by one of the processes specified in Part II of that Schedule, it may approve those premises and facilities as a rendering plant for the purposes of receiving and processing specified risk material in such a manner.

(2) A person shall not take delivery of specified risk material at any premises, or operate any premises for the purposes of rendering unless it has been approved as a rendering plant for the purposes of paragraph (1).

(3) Any person delivering specified risk material to a rendering plant shall state in writing to the operator of the rendering plant concerned the place from which that specified risk material was collected for delivery to that rendering plant.

(4) The operator of a rendering plant shall make a consignment record on the arrival of specified risk material at the premises and shall keep that record for two years from the date of arrival.

(5) Without prejudice to the storage requirements of regulation 28, the operator of a rendering plant shall ensure that all specified risk material in the rendering plant is kept and stored separately from all other material, handled separately from other material and rendered separately from other material.

(6) The operator of a rendering plant shall ensure that specified risk material is processed at the plant without undue delay and in any event within seven days of delivery using one of the methods described in Part II of Schedule 1.

(7) Except as permitted by paragraph (8), the operator of an approved rendering plant shall ensure that any equipment used for processing specified risk material is used only for that purpose.

(8) The Department may, on application by the operator of an approved rendering plant, consent to the use by that person or his employees of equipment previously used for processing specified risk material for such other purposes as may be specified in the consent, provided that, before use of such other purposes, the equipment concerned has been cleaned to the satisfaction of the Department in accordance with any conditions specified in that consent.

(9) After specified risk material has been processed and separated into protein and tallow in any rendering plant the operator of the plant shall ensure that—

(a) all protein is placed in a container labelled “specified risk material” and disposed of—

(i) by burial at a landfill site for which there exists a current disposal licence granted under Article 7 of the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(1);

(ii) as specified in the approval granted in relation to the plant for the purposes of this regulation; or

(iii) by sending to an approved incinerator; and

(b) all tallow is placed in a container labelled “specified risk material” and—

(i) by burial at a landfill site for which there exists a current disposal licence granted under Article 7 of the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(2);

(ii) (in the case of tallow derived from class II specified risk material) sent to premises licenced under Article 10 of the Specified Risk Material Order (Northern Ireland) 1997 either for treatment by thermal hydrolysis at hyperbaric pressure or for use in such other process as is specified in the approval of those premises;

(iii) disposed of as specified in the approval relating to the rendering plant; or

(iv) sent to an approved incinerator.

(10) Protein and tallow produced from animal material, other than specified risk material, from scheme animals shall be disposed of by burning in an approved incinerator and for this purpose regulation 23 shall apply to such material as if it were specified risk material.

(11) The operator of a rendering plant shall keep a consignment record for two years in relation to all protein and tallow consigned by him for disposal under paragraph (9) or (10).

(12) The operator of a rendering plant shall ensure that all containers, receptacles and vehicles which have been used for the transport of specified risk material are cleaned, washed and disinfected before they leave the premises.

(13) A person shall not—

(a) move from the unclean section of a rendering plant (as specified by the occupier in accordance with paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 1) into the clean section without first changing his working clothes and footwear or disinfecting the latter; or

(b) take equipment or utensils from the unclean section into the clean section unless the equipment or utensils are first washed and disinfected.

(14) The operator of a rendering plant shall ensure that appropriate systematic measures are taken to control birds, rodents, insects and other vermin on the premises.

(15) The operator of an approved rendering plant shall ensure that the premises comprising the plant and equipment used therein in connection with the rendering of any animal material are kept in a good state of repair and that, in particular, measuring equipment so used is calibrated at regular intervals.

(1)

S.I. 1978/1049 (N.I. 19)

(2)

1990 c. 43