The Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1994

Inspection and health marking

12.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, the food authority shall—

(a) arrange for pre-slaughter health inspections to be carried out and authorise the slaughter of birds or rabbits in accordance with Schedule 7, and

(b) arrange for post-mortem health inspections to be carried out at every slaughterhouse in accordance with Schedule 9.

(2) Paragraph (1) above and paragraph (5) below shall not apply—

(a) until 1st August 1994, to the premises referred to in regulation 4(2)(b), (d), (e) and (f); or

(b) until 1st August 1994, to low throughput premises other than low throughput premises referred to in sub-paragraph (c) below;

(c) until 1st April 1995, to low throughput premises which make restricted sales only.

(3) The health marking in accordance with Schedule 11 shall be applied to all fresh meat which has been passed as fit for human consumption following pre-slaughter and post-mortem health inspections and which complies with the requirements of these Regulations.

(4) The health mark shall not be applied to—

(a) any fresh meat which does not satisfy the requirements specified in paragraph (3) above; or

(b) any uneviscerated poultry or uneviscerated farmed game birds.

(5) No person shall remove, or cause or permit to be removed, from licensed premises 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 (3) above.

(6) No person shall remove, or cause or permit to be removed, from a licensed premises any body of a bird—

(a) unless it is accompanied by the health attestation shown in Schedule 20; or

(b) in the case of uneviscerated poultry, until the surface of the body of that bird has been inspected and the bird passed as fit for human consumption.

(7) The health mark shall be applied under the supervision and responsibility of an official veterinary surgeon who may be assisted by an inspector.

(8) No person shall use any mark so resembling a health mark used in accordance with Schedule 11 in such a way as to be likely to suggest that the product has been produced in accordance with these Regulations.