Sunday 7 September 2008

Guide to food hygiene and other regulations for the UK meat industry

Tuesday 14 August 2007

The new complete guide, produced to assist UK meat plant operators whose premises require approval and veterinary control under the European Union Food Hygiene Regulations, is now available.

As is stated clearly in the Guide (part one chapter 3):

the guide sets out the legal obligations that apply to food business operators in the meat sector and provides advice on how these obligations can be met
compliance with the law is not voluntary but operators are not obliged to follow the advice in the Guide as other ways of achieving compliance with the law may be equally valid
the Guide is not an authoritative interpretation of the law as only the courts have that power

Consultation

The guide has been developed with the help of an editorial panel made up of industry organisations, enforcement authorities and Agency officials. The Agency has amended the layout and texts in discussion with the panel.

Chapters

The Meat Industry Guide (MIG) includes some changes. Some of the old chapters in PART TWO have been split up for easier use. The new titles should be self-explanatory:

Chapter 9. Acceptance and Slaughter of Animals - previously Chapter 8 (Raw Materials including live animals) now includes transport of animals, advice on animal welfare and animal identification requirements.
Chapter 10. Dressing of Carcases
Chapter 11. Cutting of Meat
Chapter 12. Meat Processing
Chapter 14. Wrapping, Packaging and Transport Hygiene - previously two separate chapters, now combined but excludes transport of animals (see above).

PART THREE now includes:
Chapter 1. Application of HACCP Principles
Chapter 2. Microbiological Criteria
Chapter 3. SRM removal
Chapter 4. TSE Testing

MHS/DARD Manual for Official Controls

With the introduction of the new regulations in January 2006, the change in the official veterinarian's duties from supervision to audit of the operator's food safety management procedures, and the production of this Guide, the MHS/DARD operations manuals have been replaced by 'Manuals for Official Controls'.

Corrections to text
Please send suggested text or corrections of factual errors to the Industry Guide Editor, Meat Hygiene and Veterinary Division, Food Standards Agency, 3rd floor, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH or email to: MeatIndustryGuide@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Any amendments to the MIG will be highlighted in the Amendment Record page.

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Guide to food hygiene and other regulations for the UK meat industry

Consultation

Chapters

MHS/DARD Manual for Official Controls

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