Meat Products (Hygiene) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Storage and transportation conditions

12.—(1) A person shall not sell for human consumption from a meat products premises approved under regulation 4 any meat product manufactured in or imported into Northern Ireland after these Regulations come into force unless—

(a)it is or has been handled, stored and transported in accordance with Part VII of Schedule 2 and, after 8th December 1998, if it is stored in a cold store separate from the meat products premises from which it is sold, that store has been licensed under regulation 4 of the Fresh Meat Regulations;

(b)subject to sub-paragraph (c), it is accompanied during transportation by a health certificate, signed by an authorised officer of an enforcement authority at the time of loading, which is in the form and contains the particulars specified in Schedule 4 where—

(i)it contains meat from a slaughterhouse situated in a place or area which has been declared to be an infected place or area under the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1);

(ii)it contains meat bearing a special mark under regulation 14(2)(c) or (d) of the Fresh Meat Regulations; or

(iii)it is intended to be sent to a relevant EEA State after transit through a third country, in which case it shall be in a sealed means of transport; and

(c)where—

(i)the product does not fall within sub-paragraph (b); and

(ii)the exemption specified in paragraph (2) does not apply,

it is accompanied during transportation by a commercial document which bears the official approval code of the meat products premises of origin and the name and address of the consignee.

(2) The exemption mentioned in paragraph (1)(c)(ii) is an exemption for meat products in hermetically sealed containers which has undergone one of the treatments referred to in paragraph B(a) of Part VIII of Schedule 2.

(3) An enforcement authority may make a reasonable charge for the issue by it of any health certificate pursuant to paragraph (1)(b).

(4) Any person who receives a consignment of meat products together with the commercial document shall keep that document, and make it available for inspection on request by an authorised officer of an enforcement authority.

(5) Any document which a person is required to keep under paragraph (4) shall be kept for at least one year after its receipt or, in the case of meat products which cannot be stored at an ambient temperature, for at least 6 months after the appropriate durability date of the meat product concerned.