Meat

Guidance notes for meat and livestock regulations

Guidance to assist UK meat plant operators whose premises require approval and veterinary control under the European Union Food Hygiene Regulations.

Your meat plant must be approved by the FSA before it can operate – except if there is a specific exemption. This applies to slaughterhouses (abattoirs), cutting plants and game handling establishments.

The FSA carries out routine audits of approved meat establishments (that is slaughterhouses, cutting plants and game handling establishments) in Britain. In Northern Ireland, these audits are carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) on behalf of the FSA.

The FSA and industry have agreed a voluntary protocol to allow Official Veterinarians access to CCTV at slaughterhouses to provide verification of animal welfare standards.

The EU food hygiene legislation requires slaughterhouse operators to request, receive, check and act upon food chain information (FCI) for all animals sent for slaughter for human consumption.

The attached note describes a review process for situations where an Official Veterinarians (OV) and a Food Business Operator (FBO) disagree over whether a red meat carcass is fit for human consumption. This approach does not alter the application of any official controls.

Trichinosis is a disease caused by the larvae, 'trichinae', of a small nematode worm (Trichinella spiralis), which can affect many species including humans.

'HACCP in meat plants' contains a short guide to completing a HACCP plan, information on training, a manual, CD-ROM, model documents and a food safety management diary. HACCP is an internationally recognised way of managing food safety and protecting consumers.

The Current and Future Meat Controls Stakeholder Group (CFMC) is the core group of key meat stakeholders. The Group’s main purpose is to inform the Agency's work in developing proposals for more risk-based and proportionate meat hygiene and TSE/SRM requirements and the official controls relating to those requirements. The first meeting of this Group took place on 25 June 2010.

The Steering Group on Meat Charging consists of Industry representatives from the production and processing sectors under an independent chair.