The Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1994

General conditions

14.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (5), (6), (7) and (8) below, no person shall at any time on or after 1st May 1994, sell for human consumption any fresh meat unless—

(a)it has been obtained from licensed premises or from premises which are supervised in accordance with regulation 8;

(b)it comes from a bird or rabbit which has been subjected to a pre-slaughter health inspection in accordance with Schedule 7 and following such inspection has been passed as fit for slaughter for human consumption, and has been slaughtered thereafter;

(c)it has been chilled and prepared under hygienic conditions in accordance with Schedule 8;

(d)it comes from the body of a bird or rabbit which has been subjected to a post-mortem health inspection in accordance with Schedule 9 and which has shown no evidence of disease or other abnormal condition except for localised lesions or contaminations which have been removed and which do not render the remainder of the carcase unfit for human consumption;

(e)it has been given a health mark in accordance with Schedule 11;

(f)it is accompanied during transportation by either—

(i)a health certificate, or

(ii)an invoice or delivery note; in accordance with regulation 15;

(g)if it has been stored in any licensed premises, it has been stored in accordance with Schedule 12;

(h)if it is wrapped or packaged, it has been wrapped or packaged under hygienic conditions in accordance with Schedule 13; and

(i)if it has been transported to, or from, any licensed premises, it has been transported under hygienic conditions in accordance with Schedule 14.

(2) Subject to paragraphs (5) and (9) below no person shall sell for human consumption—

(a)fresh meat which—

(i)has been treated with an antibiotic or tenderiser;

(ii)has been marked with a colourant other than in accordance with regulation 12(3) and Schedule 11;

(iii)has not been eviscerated;

(iv)has been treated with a preservative other than a permitted preservative; or

(v)has been cooled, immediately after evisceration and post-mortem health inspection, by a means of immersion in water which is not in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs 10 and 11 of Schedule 8;

(b)rabbit meat or farmed game meat which has been treated with ionizing orultra-violet radiation.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) below, no person shall consign or sell for consignment to another member State for human consumption—

(a)fresh meat produced in a low throughput premises;

(b)fresh meat cut up in a low throughput cutting premises;

(c)fresh meat which has been marked in accordance with paragraph 6 of Schedule 11;

(d)rabbit meat or farmed game meat which has been treated with ionizing or ultra-violet radiation;

(e)farmed game meat which has not been eviscerated;

(f)fresh meat which has been obtained from a specified group subject to a programme for the control of infectious disease.

(4) Paragraph (3) above shall not apply to meat forming part of travellers' luggage and intended for their personal consumption and meat sent as small packages to private persons.

(5) Paragraphs (1) and (2) above shall not apply to fresh meat imported into Great Britain from any other part of the British Islands, another member State, or a third country, save that such imported fresh meat shall be handled and transported in accordance with these Regulations.

(6) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply until 1st August 1994 to the sale of fresh meat obtained from—

(a)any of the premises referred to in regulation 4(2)(b), (d), (e) or (f); or

(b)any low throughput premises other than by way of a restricted sale.

(7) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply until 1st April 1995 to the sale of fresh meat obtained from low throughput premises if that sale is either—

(a)a restricted sale; or

(b)by a retailer to whom that fresh meat was sold by way of a restricted sale.

(8) Without prejudice to regulation 23 of the Food Hygiene (Markets, Stalls and Delivery Vehicles) Regulations 1966(1) (transport of meat), paragraph (1)(i) above shall not apply in relation to the transportation of any fresh meat from any licensed premises, on sale, direct to the final consumer or to a retailer in Great Britain.

(9) Paragraph (2)(a)(iii) above shall not apply until 1st May 1997, in relation to the sale for human consumption of uneviscerated poultry meat in the form of whole bodies only, by an occupier of premises who was lawfully engaged in the sale of such uneviscerated poultry from those premises, before the date on which these Regulations came into force.

(10) Without prejudice to regulation 12(4)(b), the requirements as to slaughter and evisceration specified in Schedule 8 shall not apply in relation to the production for sale in Great Britain of partially eviscerated or non-eviscerated farmed game birds in a slaughterhouse or cutting premises—

(a)which was lawfully engaged in such production before 24th September 1991, and

(b)to the occupier of which, at the request of such occupier, the Minister has granted in writing an exemption from those requirements in pursuance of Article 9 of Council Directive 91/495/EEC.