Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Trader Notice: MH 21/2013
To: Operators of all approved meat establishments
Subject: Certification Procedures for Sheep meat, Goat meat and raw meat preparations exported from the EU to the Customs Union
Background
The Customs Union (CU) between Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia came into existence on January 1, 2010. In October 2012 the Customs Union and the EU agreed a Certificate for the export of Sheep and Goat meat, and raw meat preparations from the EU to the CU
Certification System
The purpose of the EU-CU Certification system is to ensure that the CU veterinary and sanitary requirements are complied with along the whole production chain and to ensure the traceability of the products. You should note that the system applicable to movements within a Member State differs slightly to the system applicable to intra-community trade.
The system is based upon a chain of official pre-export certificates issued by the certifying officials of the Member States’ competent authorities using commonly agreed models. The same safety measures will be applied in pre-export certification as in final certification. Along the certification chain references to the previous certificate must be made in the subsequent certificate as indicated in the relevant model certificate (date, number, country of origin, administrative territory, and approval number of the establishment, name and quantity of the product).
A pre-export certificate must accompany each stage of the consignment until the final certification point is reached. The final certificate is issued by the official veterinarian in the last establishment before the consignment leaves the EU to the Customs Union. The final certificate alone will go with the consignment to the CU.
Approved Plants for CU Market
Only those plants listed on a CU register and published on the Rosselkhoznadzor website (under “mutton”) are permitted to slaughter, debone or export sheep meat to the Customs Union.
Role of the FBO
The FBO must draw up a Standard Operating Procedure for the production of Sheep meat to the Customs Union in consultation with the Veterinary Inspector. The procedure must incorporate at least the following:
1. How sheep are selected for the CU market in the lairage (there are no specific CU criteria for live sheep selection for sheep originating in the EU).
2. How selected animals are identified.
3. Whether the heads of all sheep will be presented for examination or only the heads of a selected number of sheep.
4. How the heads[1] of selected carcases are hygienically presented for PM examination.
5. How identification[2] of carcasses, meat and offal is ensured throughout the slaughter, boning, loading and cold storage processes.
6. The methods employed to withdraw ineligible product from a consignment for any reason.
7. The methods employed to identify this ineligible product subsequently to ensure it is not dispatched to the CU
8. The Sampling Programme covers the sampling of eligible meat under CU Decision 299 (as amended) for
a. Microbiological criteria.
b. Antibiotic residue criteria.
c. Pesticide, dioxin and heavy metal criteria
9. The monitoring that the FBO will put in place to provide assurance that only those sheep that have undergone the necessary CU checks are eligible for consignment to the CU.
10. The methods used to deal with ineligible product to ensure it is not dispatched to the CU.
Where sheep carcases are taken in from other CU approved plants for boning either at standalone boning halls or those attached to slaughter plants, the SOP must also indicate:
· Procedures for notifying the Veterinary Office of consignments being taken in,
· Intake procedures including identification and segregation of carcases eligible for CU
· That there is a Sampling Programme covers the sampling of cut meat for relevant Microbiological Criteria under CU Decision 299.
The plant SOP must generate records that will prove to the satisfaction of the VI in charge that only meat from animals eligible for the CU has been included in productions and consignments intended for that market.
Lairage Checks
There are no specific CU animal health criteria for selection of sheep for the CU market. Live animals originating in other EU Member states, which are intended to be processed for the CU market, must be accompanied by appropriate certification covering the animal health conditions listed in point 4.3 of the CU Export Certificate.
Slaughter Hall - Labeling and Health marking
When plant management intend to slaughter product for the CU market they must ensure that only carcases derived from eligible animals enter the slaughter hall. This must be done by the application of a label or code to the carcases which is checked, recorded and verified by plant personnel.
Presentation of Heads for Inspection
FBOs have two options in relation to presentation of sheep heads for examination:
- To avoid the need to segregate RF/CU eligible sheep from non-eligible sheep the FBO may present all heads of all carcases for examination.
- If the heads of only specifically selected sheep for export to RF/CU markets are presented for examination then the carcases of these sheep must be clearly recorded, identified and segregated from all sheep whose heads have not been examined.
The FBO must ensure that the heads of sheep carcases are presented for PM in the following manner:
· Heads must be correlated to their carcases of origin.
· They must be presented hygienically for PM inspection in such a way that all heads are clearly visible to the PM inspector without causing a risk of contamination to other meat.
Harvesting of Offals
Eligible offals can only be harvested from sheep which are eligible for production of meat for export to the CU in accordance with the decision of the FBO to present all heads or a selection of heads for examination. The harvesting of offals must be included in the FBO’s CU SOP. Eligible offals must be correlated to carcases before PM and segregated during the chilling process from ineligible offals on racks or trays marked with a CU designator label or code. Offals must be subjected to a separate sampling plan to that of meat. Offals must be packed into boxes bearing a label or code to distinguish them from ineligible offals. Boxes must be segregated during storage from non-CU eligible product.
Controls in the Boning Hall
When plant management intend to bone product for the CU market they must ensure that only carcases derived from eligible animals enter the boning hall. Where carcases from ineligible animals are found to be present when work is underway then all that day’s production will be deemed to be ineligible for export to the CU, and certification of meat will cease pending a review and remedial action by the FBO.
Boxes of meat and offal eligible for export to the CU must be marked by the application label or code designated solely for this purpose, in addition to the EU identification mark and other commercial labelling. The label carrying the EU identification mark must be applied in such a way as to be destroyed when the boxes are opened.
The results of these checks must be recorded and verified by FBO personnel.
Dispatch of carcases and meat eligible for CU market.
1. Where CU eligible carcases/meat is dispatched from the plant of origin to an approved plant in another Member State it must be accompanied by an original pre-export certificate. This pre-export certificate has all the security features and is the same colour as the final certificate (Green).
2. Where CU eligible carcases/meat are dispatched from the plant of origin to another approved DAFM plant in Republic of Ireland it must be accompanied by a white pre-export certificate as outlined under.
The plant to which the sheep meat/offal is dispatched must be aware of the labelling/coding system used to identify RF/CU eligible product so that this product can be segregated correctly.
Intake of carcases and meat eligible for CU Market.
1. Carcases/meat, originating in an approved establishment in another Member State, must be accompanied by a green security featured pre-export certificate.
2. Carcases/meat, originating in an approved plant within the Republic of Ireland, must be accompanied by a white pre-export certificate as outlined below. This certificate does not have the same security features as the original and is white in colour.
Cold Storage
Boxed sheep meat destined for CU markets must be spatially segregated from non-CU meats at cold storage on the basis of the CU label or code applied at the packing stage.
Summary Table of Certificate Types
Certificate Type / Security / Numbering / When to UseA. Pre-Export Certificate / Black and White / Pre-Numbered / Dispatch and Receipt of sheep and goat meat between CU Approved establishments within ROI
B. Pre-Export Certificate* / Green, full security
/ Pre-numbered / Dispatch: CU sheep and goat meat to another Member State
Receipt: CU sheep and goat meat from another Member State.
C. Final Export Certificate* / Green, full security / Pre-numbered / For dispatch of CU sheep and goat meat direct to Customs Union
Any queries on this Trader Notice should be discussed with your Official Veterinarian.
Meat Hygiene Section
May 2013
1
[1] Head (which need not be skinned] must not contaminate carcase and offal parts which are intended for human consumption.
[2] The FBO may opt for either a designator label or code to identify CU eligible sheep meat