Historial: en5R2004853

*Other appropriate procedures.

It is the task of the competent authority to verify whether the procedures developed by the operators are carried out properly.

As is the case for other requirements, the principle of proportionality must be respected in deciding about the nature of lairages or waiting pens. For small slaughterhouses, slaughtering few animals, there is no need to require sophisticated or extensive infrastructures, and the equipment for watering and if necessary for feeding the animals may be simple (e.g. movable equipment).

Worries have been expressed by operators of small slaughterhouses that this requirement, with regard to the sterilisation of knives, may create the need for having available multiple facilities in the slaughter room.

*Sterilising in a single operation a number of knives sufficient to ensure that clean knives are available throughout the slaughter operations. This solution may be appropriate in low capacity slaughterhouses.

Annex I, Chapter XIV, point 66 of Directive 64/433/EEC lays down that:

At several occasions, the Commission has been questioned by food business operators who fear that this possibility has not been carried over in Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. However, the possibility of temperature derogations for the transport of meat has been maintained, and has even been broadened in Annex III, Section I, Chapter VII, point 3 of that Regulation which lays down that:

(a) such transport takes place in accordance with the requirements that the competent authority specifies in respect of the transport from one given establishment to another, and

“Specific products” must be understood as any product for which the competent authority grants an authorisation and specifies the requirements to be respected.

Since the word “scrap” may mean either “small pieces” or “waste”, several requests have been made to clarify what is to be understood under the terms “scrap trimmings and scrap cuttings”.

In general terms, it would not seem logical to ban products fit for human consumption from being used for human consumption. The use of small pieces (trimmings and cuttings) of meat that are fit for human consumption for the preparation of minced meat should therefore not pose a problem, it being understood that the microbiological quality of the minced meat must be guaranteed at all times, and that they have been obtained from whole muscle.

In practice, the slaughterhouse operator shall check that the food chain information that is presented is complete with no obvious errors or omissions, and can be deemed effective to support his decision. It does not impose on the slaughterhouse operator to make a professional evaluation of the information since such evaluation can only be performed in a professional way by the official veterinarian.

It seems to be common in the dairy sector to apply several identification marks on a single package with and indication as to what mark is the valid one.

The wording of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 does not seem to prevent such practice.

Annex III, Section IX, Chapter I, Part II, Subpart B, Point 1(b) of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 lays down that milk from each animal must be “checked for organoleptic or physico-chemical abnormalities by the milker or a method achieving similar results”.

*Automatic milking installations – Requirements and testing (ISO/CD 20966)

Chapter IV of Annex III, Section IX of Regulation 853/2004 prescribes the labelling of raw milk and products made with raw milk intended for human consumption in the context of labelling Directive 2000/13. This entails that the labelling information concerning products made from raw milk applies up to the point of sale. They shall be given to the consumer to allow him to make his choice. They may be provided with packaging, document, notice, label, ring or collar accompanying or referring to the concerned products.

The terms “physical or chemical treatment” referred to in point 1(b) of the same chapter should be understood as treatments to reduce possible microbiological hazards linked to raw milk or raw milk products (e.g. microfiltration).

Annex III, Section IX, Chapter II, III (1) (b) lays down that processed cow's milk used to prepare dairy products has a plate count of less than 100 000 per ml. The background of this requirement is that processed milk (e.g. pasteurised milk) that is used as a raw material has to comply with this limit before entering into a new processing step. It is not the intention therefore to require milk that has already entered into a new processing step (e.g. to which additional flora has been added for processing reasons - production of yoghurt or cheese) to comply with this criterion.