The Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992

Inspection and health marking

11.—(1) The local authority shall arrange for—

(a) ante-mortem health inspections and post-mortem health inspections to be carried out at every slaughterhouse in accordance with Schedules 8 and 10 respectively; and

(b) post-mortem health inspections to be carried out at every farmed game processing facility in accordance with Schedule 10.

(2) Where fresh meat has been passed as fit for human consumption following ante-and post-mortem health inspections it shall be marked in accordance with the requirements of Schedule 12 only if it complies with the requirements of these Regulations, and no other meat shall be so marked.

(3) No person shall remove, or cause or permit to be removed, from a slaughterhouse or a farmed game processing facility any blood intended for human consumption or any carcase or part of a carcase or any offal until it has been inspected in accordance with these Regulations and, in the case of fresh meat passed as fit for human consumption after inspection, until it has been marked in accordance with paragraph (2) above.

(4) The health mark shall be applied by an official veterinary surgeon or by an inspector under the supervision and responsibility of an official veterinary surgeon and the equipment issued by the local authority for applying the health mark shall be used only by such persons; and no other person shall apply the health mark or possess or use the equipment for applying the health mark except that the occupier of any cutting premises or cold store who is acting under the supervision of an official veterinary surgeon may apply the health mark to cuts of meat or affix to meat that is packaged, a label on which the health mark is printed, and the equipment for applying the health mark and any labels on which the health mark is printed shall be kept securely in the room referred to in sub-paragraphs 1(r) of Schedule 2, 1(g) of Schedule 3 and 1(aa) of Part II of Schedule 6 or the facilities referred to in sub-paragraphs 1(o) of Part I of Schedule 5 and 1(y) of Part III of Schedule 6.

(5) No person shall use any mark so resembling a health mark used in accordance with Schedule 12 in such a way as to be likely to suggest that the product has been produced in accordance with these Regulations.