Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Amendment of the Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995

2.—(1) The Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(1) shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) the following definitions shall be inserted in the appropriate alphabetical positions—

““farmer” means any person who is an agricultural producer and manages a holding;”; and

““holding” means an agricultural production unit situated in Northern Ireland managed by a farmer;”.

(3) In paragraph (1) of regulation 3 (exemptions and savings for existing licences)—

(a) sub-paragraph (b) shall be replaced with the following sub-paragraphs—

“(b) subject to paragraphs (2), (3) and (4), in so far as a farmer who annually rears and slaughters on the aggregate of all his holdings under 10,000 birds or under 10,000 rabbits sells small quantities of fresh poultry meat, small quantities of fresh farmed game bird meat or small quantities of fresh rabbit meat derived from those birds or rabbits—

(i) direct to the final consumer at the holding where the birds or the rabbits were reared and slaughtered;

(ii) direct to the final consumer at the local market nearest to the holding where the birds or rabbits were reared and slaughtered;

(iii) direct to retailers for sale direct to the final consumer, provided the retailers make such sales in the same county as, or in a neighbouring county to, the holding where the birds or the rabbits were reared and slaughtered; or

(iv) at a market (other than a local market) during the period of two weeks which immediately precede Christmas Day and Easter Sunday each year;

(bA) in so far as a producer who annually rears and slaughters under 10,000 rabbits sells fresh rabbit meat derived from rabbits he has reared and slaughtered at premises under his control direct to a person who buys the meat for his own consumption;”; and

(b) in sub-paragraph (g), “(bA),” shall be inserted before “(c)”.

(4) In regulation 3, paragraph (2) shall be replaced with the following—

“(2) The exemptions in paragraph 1(b) and (bA) shall not apply in relation to any itinerant sale or sale by mail order or, as regards a sale by a retailer, any sale by the retailer at a market.”.

(5) In regulation 3(3), “paragraph 1(b)” shall be replaced by “paragraph (1)(b)”.

(6) In regulation 3(3) and (4), for “slaughterhouse” there shall be substituted “holding”.

(7) In regulation 12 (notice of operation of licensed premises), after paragraph (3) there shall be added the following paragraph—

“(4) No person shall operate any licensed low throughput slaughterhouse unless he has notified the Agency, in accordance with paragraph (2), of the number and origin of the birds or rabbits to be slaughtered there.”.

(8) In each of paragraphs (1) and (2) of regulation 14 (transport documentation) “Subject to paragraph (3),” shall be revoked.

(9) Paragraph (3) of regulation 14 (transport documentation) shall be revoked.

(10) In paragraph (1)(a)(i) of regulation 17 (duties of occupier), after “species” there shall be inserted “and origin”.

(11) In Part I of Schedule 5 (construction, layout and equipment of low throughput slaughterhouses and low throughput cutting premises), paragraph 5 shall be replaced with the following—

• “5 refrigeration equipment which—

  (a)

  is adequate to keep the internal temperature of meat at the levels required by Schedule 12; and

  (b)

  has a drainage system linked to the waste water pipes which minimises the risk of contamination of meat;”.

(12) In paragraph 17 of Schedule 7, “the slaughtered of all other rabbits,” shall be replaced by “the slaughter of all other rabbits,”.

(13) In paragraph 1(b) of Schedule 8, “92/45/EEC)” shall be replaced by “92/45/EEC”.

(14) In paragraph 11(j) of Schedule 8, for “producer” there shall be substituted “occupier”.

(15) In paragraph 3(a) of Part II of Schedule 9, for “cedema” there shall be substituted “oedema”.

(16) Paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 14 (transport) shall be replaced with the following—

“(a) fresh meat shall be transported—

(i) from a licensed slaughterhouse or licensed cutting premises, other than any low throughput slaughterhouse or low throughput cutting premises, by a means of transport fitted with a hermetic closing system or, in the case of fresh meat imported from or intended to be transported through a third country, in a sealed means of transport, which in either case is designed and equipped in such a way that the temperatures specified in Schedule 12 are maintained throughout transportation; and

(ii) from a slaughterhouse licensed as a low throughput slaughterhouse, or from cutting premises licensed as low throughput cutting premises, by a means of transport designed and equipped in such a way that the temperatures specified in Schedule 12 are maintained throughout transportation;”.

(1)

S.R. 1995 No. 396 as amended by S.R. 1997 No. 496, S.R. 1998 No. 237, S.R. 2000 No. 78 and S.R. 2000 No. 191