Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Meat Inspection Regulations 1987 (“the 1987 Regulations”), thereby implementing in part the provisions of Council Directive 88/409/EEC (OJ No. L194, 22.7.88, p.28) in so far as it lays down health rules applying to meat intended for the domestic market by requiring all fresh meat produced in a Member State for that market to be inspected in accordance with certain inspection rules laid down in Council Directive 64/433/EEC (OJ No. L121, 29.7.64; OJ/SE 1963—64, p.185), as amended, on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat.
The changes of substance made to the 1987 Regulations by the Regulations are the inclusion of provisions which—
require food authorities (subject to one specified exception) to arrange for every animal which is to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse to be subjected to an ante-mortem health inspection (regulation 2(c) and (h));
require food authorities to keep records of ante-and post-mortem health inspections carried out at slaughterhouses in their areas which show that any specified conditions exist in any of the animals subjected to such inspections (regulation 2(f)); and
require an inspector, in carrying out a post-mortem health inspection for the purpose of the 1987 Regulations, to arrange, where he considers it necessary, for laboratory investigations to be carried out and, in the case of post-mortem health inspections in respect of solipeds, to carry out an investigation for glanders in a specified manner (regulation 2(g)(ii) and (iv)).