The Carcase Classification and Price Reporting Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018

PART 4 PIG CARCASES

Exemption for small-scale pig operators

13.—(1) These Regulations do not apply to the operator of an approved slaughterhouse at which fewer than 500 clean pigs per week as an annual average are slaughtered.

(2) But if a small-scale pig operator chooses to classify pig carcases, these Regulations apply in relation to that operator and the classification of those carcases.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (1) prevents the application of these Regulations to an operator in relation to bovine carcases if adult bovine animals are also slaughtered in that operator’s slaughterhouse.

Competent authority: pig carcases

14.—(1) The Department is the competent authority for the purposes of—

(a) Article 7(4) of the Commission Delegated Regulation;

(b) Article 12(2)(b) of the Commission Delegated Regulation (additional provisions on classification by automated grading techniques);

(c) Articles 13 and 14 of the Commission Delegated Regulation and Article 14 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (reporting of market prices and calculation of average price per class);

(d) Article 17(2) of the Commission Delegated Regulation (supplementary provisions for reporting of market prices for carcases);

(e) Article 4(1) of the Commission Implementing Regulation (making and keeping reports for on-the-spot checks).

(2) The Department is responsible for-

(a) authorisation of automated grading methods for pig carcases as described in Article 11 of the Commission Delegated Regulation;

(b) notifications to the Commission described in Article 25 of the Commission Delegated Regulation;

(c) on-the-spot checks as described in Articles 2 and 3 of the Commission Implementing Regulation.

Authorised grading methods

15.—(1) The classification of pig carcases must be carried out at an approved slaughterhouse—

(a) using an authorised grading method provided for in Article 11 of the Commission Delegated Regulation; and

(b) using grading techniques provided for in Article 11 of the Commission Delegated Regulation which are operated by qualified personnel.

(2) In this regulation, “qualified personnel” means any person who is using a grading technique provided for in Article 11 of the Commission Delegated Regulation and who is proficient in the use of that technique.

Records instead of marking

16.  An operator or the person responsible for the classification of pig carcases may, instead of marking a carcase in accordance with the European pig provisions set out in Part 2 of Schedule 2, draw up a record for that carcase which comprises at least —

(a) the individual identification of the carcase by any unalterable means;

(b) the warm weight of the carcase; and

(c) the result of the classification.

Records: pig carcases

17.—(1) An operator of an approved slaughterhouse must keep a record of the particulars specified in Schedule 4 relating to each pig carcase which is classified in that slaughterhouse.

(2) The operator must retain each record for a period of 12 months from the end of the calendar year to which the record relates.