Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which apply to England and Wales only, come into force on 13th November 1989.

The Regulations apply to the brain, spinal cord, spleen, thymus, tonsils and intestines of bovine animals slaughtered in the United Kingdon (“specified bovine offal”). They do not apply to specified bovine offal of bovine animals not more than 6 months old when slaughtered and there are limited exemptions from the movement restrictions and from the requirements for staining and sterilisation (regulation 3). The sale of any part of or product derived wholly or partly from an animal slaughtered in a knacker’s yard is prohibited by section 12 of the Food Act 1984.

The Regulations–

(a)

prohibit, subject to exemptions, the sale or use in food for sale for human consumption of specified bovine offal (regulation 4);

(b)

require, subject to exceptions, specified bovine offal to be sterilised or stained at a slaughterhouse (regulation 5);

(c)

prohibit, subject to exceptions, the removal of unsterilised bovine offal from a slaughterhouse or other place (regulations 6 and 7);

(d)

prohibit the freezing of specified bovine offal unless it has been sterilised or stained except when it is to be delivered to a specific destination (regulation 8);

(e)

prohibit the bringing in of specified bovine offal from Scotland or Northern Ireland unless it is sterilised, or it is intended to be delivered to a specified destination and is stained or accompained by prescribed documents (regulation 9);

(f)

provide for the removal of specified bovine offal which has not been sterilised or stained to be buried or destroyed in specified circumstances (regulation 10);

(g)

specify the destinations to which specified bovine offal may be removed and prescribe the conditions for the transport of such offal; the immediate or ultimate destinations are–

(i)

a hospital, medical or veterinary school, laboratory or similar institution, or the premises of a manufacturing chemist;

(ii)

the premises of a manufacturer of products other than food;

(iii)

the premises of a licensed waste food processor;

(iv)

the premises of a steriliser of specified bovine offal; and

(v)

in the case of a bovine head from which the brain has not been removed, a specialist boning plant for the recovery of its meat (regulation 11);

(h)

provide for the issue of movement permits by local authorities authorising the removal of specified bovine offal from slaughterhouses or other places and prescribe the conditions in relation thereto (regulation 12);

(i)

require the occupier of a specialist boning plant receiving a bovine head, from which the brain has not been removed, to sterilise or stain the skull immediately after removal of the meat (regulation 13);

(j)

provide for the separation of meat fit for human consumption from specified bovine offal during storage (regulation 14);

(k)

make provisions for penalties and enforcement (regulation 15);

(m)

provide for the application of specified provisions of the Food Act 1984 (regulation 16); and

(n)

amend the Slaughterhouses (Hygiene) Regulations 1977 so as to exclude specified bovine offal from the certificate of an authorised officer as to fitness for human consumption required under those Regulations when the dressed carcase of an animal slaughtered in a place other than a slaughterhouse is to be brought into a slaughterhouse (regulation 17).