Regulation (EC) 853/2004 As Amended, Annex II, Section II, 2A;

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Trader Notice: MH 16/2012

To: Food Business Operators at Approved Sheep Slaughter Plants

Subject; Sheep intake at slaughter plants

This Trader Notice should be read in conjunction with Trader Notice MH 18/2010 and replaces instructions in relation to documentation to accompany sheep entering slaughter plants, outlined in that Trader Notice.

1. Background: Regulation (EC) 853/2004 as amended, Annex II, Section II, 2a requires that the slaughter plant FBO must have procedures that guarantee that each animal or, where appropriate, each lot of animals accepted onto the slaughterhouse premises is properly identified. In order to meet this requirement we will require that the slaughter plant FBO must ensure that each sheep is tagged as detailed in Regulation (EC) 21/2004 (establishing a system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals), and implementing Statutory Instruments (SI 281/2009 and SI 309/2011). In order to meet the traceability requirements of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002, the FBO must, at a minimum, be able to link the carcase number to the flock number of the supplier. In order to meet the requirements of S.I.183 of 2009 in relation to residues in meat, the FBO must have a system in place which will allow any carcase sampled for the presence of residues to be linked to the flock of birth of the animal from which that carcase derived.

2. New Rules on Sheep Identification: (a) S.I. 281/2001 is revoked by SI 309/2011 for sheep born after 31st December 2009. (b) Sheep born after 31st December 2009 must comply with SI 309/2011 for identification and movement purposes. (c) Sheep born before 31st December 2009 must comply with SI 281/2001 for identification and movement purposes.

In summary, the new rules are as follows:

Sheep born after 31 st December 2009:  Lambs less than 12 months of age going directly to slaughter from the farm of birth may be identified with a tip tag, a conventional tag, by an electronic tag or bolus set.  Lambs less than 12 months of age which do not go directly to slaughter from the farm of birth may be identified with an electronic tag, a bolus set or a conventional tag. They cannot be identified with a tip tag.  Sheep more than 12 months of age must be identified with an electronic tag or bolus set.  No retagging (i.e. no second tagging). All tags must be inserted at the farm of birth and must remain with the sheep throughout its life, unless an owner decides to upgrade it to EID status to retain the animal for breeding. (If a tag is lost it may be replaced with a tag with the same number or with a new number

1 of 4 if the flock owners correlates the new and old numbers in the flock register). This is the only tag number that can be accepted for FCI.

Sheep born before 31 st December 2009 The old rules apply.  No requirement for electronic tags  Sheep must be retagged with a new tag from a new farm.

3. Role of the Food Business Operator The FBO must have in place an SOP which details the checks they carry out to determine the compliance of the incoming sheep with the relevant legislation, as set out below.

4. Documentation to accompany sheep at slaughter plants Each consignment of sheep presented at a slaughter plant must be accompanied by a new format Dispatch Document, which contains a Food Chain Information section on the reverse side. The document is titled “National Sheep Identification System Sheep Dispatch / Movement Document and Food Chain Information” and is attached;

Dispatch Doc Proof Oct 2011.pd...

In this Trader Notice it is be referred to as the Dispatch/ FCI document. The form is on one page, with text on both front and reverse sides of page. The front page of the form must be completed by the flock owner and the haulier each time sheep are moved to a mart, slaughter plant or other farm.

a) The flock owners’ name and address, their sheep designator, herd/flock number details are located on the top of the form as well as an area allowing for the total number of sheep (to which the document refers) to be entered by the flock owner.

b) There is also an area in which to fill in the tag numbers of all sheep in the consignment (In the case of sheep with electronic tags, as an alternative a computerised printout of the tag numbers in the consignment may be attached to the Dispatch/FCI document.). Once the flock owner has fully and accurately completed this section they must sign, date and indicate the time of loading and the destination of the consignment.

c) This signature also endorses a declaration that the animals listed satisfy the Food Chain Information statements printed on the reverse of this page.

d) Also on the front page there are sections, which must be fully completed by the transporter/ haulier. The relevant section must be completed depending whether the consignment has came to the slaughter plant from the holding of

2 of 4 origin or from the mart and signed and dated by the transporter/haulier who delivered the sheep. e) The FCI statements on the reverse of the front page are designed to assist the FBO to comply with both Section II (Objectives of HACCP-based Procedures) and Section III (Food Chain Information) of Annex II of Regulation 853/2004. f) Should there be any additional FCI of which the supplier should make the slaughter house operator and the official veterinarian aware (eg. that the flock is restricted for scrapie) this should be written into the box provided and signed and dated by the flock owner/keeper. If there is no additional information, this part need not be signed. g) Section III of Annex II requires the FBO not to accept consignments of animals onto their premises unless they are accompanied by FCI. However, if they decide to do so, they must inform the Official Veterinarian, who will take the final decision as to whether or not the animals can be slaughtered. h) Point 2 of Section III has been amended to allow FCI to accompany animals (it is no longer required that FCI arrives 24 hours in advance of the animals). i) The second section is titled “Slaughter Plant Declaration” and must be completed , signed and dated by the slaughter plant FBO only when in addition to checks regarding the “6 guarantees” have been completed and the relevant boxes filled on the form, checks as detailed in the rest of this VPN must have been carried out and deemed satisfactory. j) The third section is titled “To be completed by the Official Veterinarian” and will be completed by an OV.

5. Checks to be carried out by FBO on documentation (a) The representative of the slaughter plant must carry out a series of checks on every consignment accepted for slaughter. These include a check of at least 5% of the tags against the tag numbers recorded on the dispatch document for each consignment over 100 sheep and a minimum number of 5 tags to be checked per consignment of between 30 and 100 sheep.

(b) For consignments of less than 30 sheep, 1 or 2 tags should be checked. Each tag number checked must be initialled by the slaughterhouse representative on the Dispatch/FCI document.

(c) Any sheep bearing a tag number which is not accurately recorded on the dispatch document is deemed not to have accurate food chain information and cannot be considered fit for slaughter for human consumption. These sheep must be detained alive until a properly completed Dispatch/FCI document has been received for them. Alternatively, and if the official veterinarian so permits, they may be slaughtered and their carcases detained for a maximum of 24 hours, until a properly completed Dispatch/FCI document has been received.

3 of 4 (d) If one or more discrepancies are found between tag numbers and Dispatch/FCI document records, 20% of all of the sheep in the consignment must have their tag numbers checked against the Dispatch/FCI document record. If further discrepancies are identified then all of the sheep in the consignment must have their tag numbers checked against the Dispatch/FCI document record.

(e) Once satisfied that all parts of the form are completed satisfactorily by the supplier and the haulier the FBO must complete the relevant part of the FCI form (“Slaughter Plant Declaration”) indicating such and give the fully completed form to the Official Veterinarian who can carry out an ante-mortem examination on the animals in the consignment.

(f) FBOs should adjust their Sheep Intake SOP to take account of the need to receive and then check the FCI and then make this available to the Official Veterinarian.

(g) Only when the OV has fully completed, signed, dated and entered time of examination in the last section of the Dispatch/FCI document, can the sheep which have passed be slaughtered.

6. Carcase Labels

When slaughtered and dressed the label applied to the carcase must include at a minimum a link to the flock number of the supplier. The FBO must also have in place his own SOP which will allow any carcase chosen for residue sampling to be linked to the flock of birth of the animal from which the carcase has been derived.

In the case of older sheep, born before 31st December 2009, there must be a link between the carcase number and the individual tag number on the Dispatch/FCI document. An FBO may electronically record an electronic tag number on the slaughter line and link this individual tag number to the carcase number.

7. Records which must be maintained by the FBO

1. A flock register which records the identities of all sheep accepted into the slaughter house for slaughter.

2. The number of sheep accepted for slaughter must be entered into the AIMS database.

3. Copies of Dispatch/FCI documents must be retained for at least 3 years.

Meat Hygiene Section 1st June 2012

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