VANS 4 BUTCHERS

A few weeks ago the Food Standards Agency set in motion action to identify establishments requiring approval under the EU Hygiene Regulations that became effective from 1st January this year and have written to butchers that may require approval based on information provided by the local authority.

The new EU Regulations brought together requirements for different types of foods which were previously covered under separate pieces of legislation. A major change introduced as far as butchers are concerned is that, whereas the previous definition of final consumer included sales to caterers, the new definition only covers the ultimate consumer of the food, the public in other words.

However, as the Federation has explained in numerous articles in Food Trader, approval is not required if the butcher supplies food of animal origin to the catering trade and/or other retailers where the supply is only on a marginal and local basis.

Marginal means either up to a quarter of all the food supplied by the business or up to two tonnes of meat per week. Local means supply within the establishment’s county, plus the greater of the neighbouring county or counties or 30 miles/50 kilometres from the boundary of the establishment’s county.

This derogation is dependent on there being a general retail element to the operation supplying the final consumer with part of its production of meat. So, if the business is a stand alone catering butcher or if it goes over the two tonne or geographic limits, then it will need approval and will be inspected by the Meat Hygiene Service rather than the local authority.

Cutting plants requiring approval have to be constructed so as to avoid contamination of meat by allowing constant progress of the operations or, by ensuring separation between the different production batches. They need to have rooms for the separate storage of packaged and exposed meat, unless stored at different times or in such a way that the packaging material and the manner of storage cannot be a source of contamination for the meat.

They must have equipment for washing hands with taps designed to prevent the spread of contamination and have facilities for disinfecting tools with hot water supplied at not less than 82oC or an alternative system having an equivalent effect. The work on meat must be organised in such a way as to prevent or minimise contamination but, where necessary, this can be by separation of the operations on the different species in either space or time.

For cutting plants, the current charging system requires that the amount of the charge is the lesser of the costs occurred in carrying out the controls. Basically, this is about £2 for each tonne of meat cut up or boned at the establishment.

Although this all might appear at the outset to be extremely onerous, there are already a number of “approved establishments” that are in essence the standard high street butcher. It is therefore perfectly feasible for butchers to be able to comply with the new EU rules without having to rip the premises apart and start again. The problem however, may not be with the new laws themselves but the interpretations placed on them by the multitude of Meat Hygiene Service veterinarians.

Sept 2006 – Source: NFMFT