First Previous (PART III Knackeries) Next (PART V Fees)

8 1988

ABATTOIRS ACT, 1988

PART IV

Veterinary Control and Hygiene

Appointment of veterinary inspectors.

35 .—(1) (a) Each local authority shall appoint one or more whole-time veterinary inspectors to carry out the functions conferred on a veterinary inspector under this Act.

(b) The first appointment pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection of a veterinary inspector by a local authority shall be made within six months after the commencement of this section.

(2) In addition to the appointment referred to in subsection (1) of this section, each local authority shall appoint such and so many other veterinary inspectors as it considers necessary.

(3) A local authority may appoint such and so many other officers and servants as it considers necessary to assist any veterinary inspector appointed by it in the performance of his duties.

(4) The provisions of section 59 of the Local Government Act, 1955 , shall apply to the appointment of a whole-time veterinary inspector pursuant to this section subject to the following modifications—

(a) a local authority shall not enter into the agreement referred to in the said section 59 unless the consent of the Minister has been first obtained, and

(b) the said agreement is entered into by not more than any two local authorities.

(5) A local authority that wishes, for the purposes of this Act, to enter into an agreement pursuant to section 59 (as modified by subsection (4) of this section) of the Local Government Act, 1955 , shall submit to the Minister such information in relation to the proposed agreement as the Minister may request and if any information so requested is not furnished by the local authority concerned the Minister shall not consider the request for his consent to the said proposed agreement.

(6) The Minister may, following consultation with the local authority concerned, if it appears to him that the duties and functions conferred on a local authority by this Act and the Regulations made thereunder are not being fulfilled by the local authority, direct that any agreement entered into, for the purposes of this Act, pursuant to section 59 (as modified by subsection (4) of this section) of the Local Government Act, 1955 , shall cease to have effect.

Allocation of, and duties and powers of, veterinary inspectors.

36. —(1) A local authority shall allocate one or more veterinary inspectors to carry out the duties conferred on a veterinary inspector by this Act to each abattoir in its functional area but may allocate any particular veterinary inspector to two or more abattoirs.

(2) A veterinary inspector shall attend at each abattoir to which he is allocated at such times as the local authority, after consultation with the holder of the licence, may determine and there examine, in accordance with this Act and Regulations made thereunder, all animals, carcases, meat, offal and viscera that he finds therein and the conditions of hygiene and maintenance pertaining at such abattoir.

(3) A local authority shall make such arrangements as it considers reasonable and necessary for the inspection of each knackery in its functional area.

(4) A veterinary inspector may examine, and carry out such tests as he considers necessary on, any animal, or part thereof, or the carcase, meat, offal or viscera of any animal which he finds in an abattoir or in a knackery and he may take and remove, without payment, samples of—

(a) the animal or part thereof, or the carcase, meat, offal or viscera of any animal he finds therein, or

(b) any materials used therein.

(5) A veterinary inspector may at all reasonable times enter and inspect any abattoir or knackery for the purpose of exercising his powers and duties under this Act and the Regulations made thereunder.

(6) Any person who obstructs or unreasonably delays a veterinary inspector in the exercise of his powers and duties under this Act and the Regulations made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence.

Provisions in relation to certain persons appointed to be veterinary inspectors.

37. —(1) This section applies to a person who, holding the office of veterinary officer under a sanitary authority, is appointed by the local authority in whose functional area the sanitary authority is situate to be a veterinary inspector.

(2) The following provisions shall apply to a person to whom this section applies:

(a) the appointment referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall not be taken to be removal from or abolition of office for the purpose of any scheme or enactment relating to superannuation;

(b) all rights and liabilities of the sanitary authority to any person so appointed shall, immediately on such appointment, be transferred to and be vested in the local authority;

(c) all rights and liabilities of any person so appointed to the sanitary authority shall, immediately on such appointment, be rights and liabilities of such person to the local authority.

(3) In this Act “sanitary authority” means the sanitary authority under the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Acts, 1878 to 1964, for the area in respect of which the expression is used.

Provisions relating to functions of sanitary authority transferred by Act.

38. —(1) Every function and duty of, and every record and register maintained by, a sanitary authority which relate to any matter which, as and from the commencement of this Act, will be exercised or, as the case may be, maintained by a local authority are hereby transferred to the local authority within whose functional area the sanitary authority is situate.

(2) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, any legal proceedings are pending to which a sanitary authority is a party and the proceedings have reference to any function of the sanitary authority which is transferred by this section to a local authority, the name of the local authority concerned shall be substituted in the proceedings for that of the sanitary authority and the proceedings shall not abate by reason of such substitution.

(3) Anything commenced before the commencement of this section by or under the authority of a sanitary authority may, in so far as it relates to functions transferred by this section to a local authority, be carried on or completed on or after such commencement by the local authority concerned.

(4) A reference in any enactment to a veterinary officer appointed by a sanitary authority shall, in so far as such reference relates to any function transferred by this section, be construed as a reference to a veterinary inspector appointed under this Act.

Veterinary examination Regulations.

39. —(1) The Minister may make Regulations (in this Act referred to as veterinary examination Regulations) for the purpose of establishing the fitness of meat for human consumption.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, Regulations under this section may provide for all or any of the following matters—

(a) the ante-mortem examination by a veterinary inspector of animals intended for slaughter;

(b) the grounds (including the diseases, conditions or presence of residues) by reason of which animals may not be passed by a veterinary inspector as fit for slaughter;

(c) the post-mortem examination by a veterinary inspector of carcases and offals (including the blood and viscera) of slaughtered animals;

(d) the grounds (including the diseases, conditions or presence of residues or contaminants) by reason of which the meat of any animal may be declared by a veterinary inspector as unfit for human consumption;

(e) the grounds (including the diseases, conditions or presence of residues or contaminants) by reason of which the meat of any animal may be detained for further examination;

(f) the marking (including denaturing and staining), storage and destruction or disposal of meat which is found by a veterinary inspector to be unfit for human consumption, and the giving of directions by a veterinary inspector as to the destruction or disposal of any such unfit meat;

(g) the test methods, standards and requirements for the purpose of determining the fitness of meat for human consumption;

(h) any other matter relating to the fitness of meat for human consumption which the Minister considers to be necessary.

(3) Veterinary examination Regulations may provide that the provisions of the Regulations, subject to such modifications as may be specified therein, shall apply to any animal, other than an animal to which this Act applies, or poultry which, or the carcase, meat and offals of which, a veterinary inspector finds in an abattoir.

(4) Any person who contravenes the provisions of Regulations made under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

The health mark.

40. —(1) The Minister may prescribe—

(a) the health mark to be applied to meat by a veterinary inspector, and

(b) the manner in which meat which is consigned in packages from abattoirs should be identified or labelled.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), Regulations under this section may make provision for all or any of the following matters:

(a) the form, design and materials to be used in a stamping instrument for the application of a health mark;

(b) the marking substance to be used in the health mark;

(c) the manner in which the health mark is to be applied;

(d) the places on the meat where the health mark is to be applied;

(e) the persons who may apply the health mark to meat.

(3) Any person who—

(a) being a person other than a person specified in Regulations pursuant to this section, applies a health mark to meat, or

(b) applies, alters or erases a health mark with intent to deceive, or

(c) being a person other than an authorised officer or a person lawfully instructed by such authorised officer, cancels, imports, makes, orders, purchases, possesses or uses a stamping instrument for the application of a health mark, or

(d) imitates, forges or sells without due authority a stamping instrument for the application of a health mark,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) Any person who contravenes the provisions of Regulations made under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

Application of health mark.

41. —(1) A veterinary inspector shall, if the conditions specified in subsection (2) have been complied with, in such manner as may be prescribed, apply, or cause to be applied, the health mark to the meat of every animal which is slaughtered at an abattoir and is presented to him for application of the health mark.

(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are that:

(a) the animal was examined by a veterinary inspector before it was slaughtered and had been found to be fit for slaughter;

(b) the animal was slaughtered in the prescribed manner;

(c) the meat of such animal was examined by a veterinary inspector and found to be fit for human consumption; and

(d) at the time of the application of the health mark, the meat was clean, fresh, properly dressed and in a marketable condition.

Restriction on sale, supply, etc., of meat.

42. —(1) A person shall not sell or supply meat for human consumption, or for incorporation in a food for human consumption, unless the meat bears a health mark thereon in accordance with the provisions of—

(a) section 41 of this Act, or

(b) Regulations made under the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Acts, 1930 to 1988, or

(c) Regulations made under the Pigs and Bacon Acts, 1935 to 1988, or

(d) Council Directive No. 64/433/EEC of 26 June, 1964 (as amended)1, or Council Directive No. 72/462/EEC of 12 December, 1972 (as amended)2 or Council Directive No. 77/99/EEC of 21 December, 1976 (as amended)3.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, a person shall not have in his possession meat which is intended for human consumption unless the meat bears a health mark thereon in accordance with the provisions of—

(a) section 41 of this Act, or

(b) Regulations made under the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Acts, 1930 to 1988, or

(c) Regulations made under the Pigs and Bacon Acts, 1935 to 1988, or

(d) Council Directive No. 64/433/EEC of 26 June, 1964 (as amended)1 , or Council Directive No. 72/462/EEC of 12 December, 1972 (as amended)2 , or Council Directive No. 77/99/EEC of 21 December, 1976 (as amended)3 .

(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to—

(a) meat which is in an abattoir and is awaiting the application of a health mark in accordance with this Act;

(b) meat from an animal slaughtered in a place situate on a farm which is used for the occasional slaughter of—

(i) a pig which is maintained for farming purposes on such farm by its occupier, or

(ii) an animal which is so maintained and which has been injured by accident and the slaughter of which is necessary to prevent its suffering,

and the meat from such pig or such injured animal is intended for consumption only by the residents on such farm;

(c) meat which the person in whose possession it was found can establish was acquired by him in good faith and he did not know that it required to be marked with a health mark.

(4) Where meat is sold, supplied, possessed, exposed or kept for sale, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the meat is sold, supplied, possessed, exposed or kept for sale, as the case may be, for human consumption.

(5) Any person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) In a prosecution for an offence under this section, it shall be a defence to establish that the meat which is the subject of the prosecution was cut from a carcase which bore a health mark.

Extension of powers of veterinary examiner within meaning of Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930, and Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935.

43. —(1) A veterinary examiner (within the meaning of the Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930 ) shall, in determining whether the carcase or offals of any animal presented to him, pursuant to that Act, for examination is or are unfit for human consumption, have regard to the provisions of veterinary examination Regulations and the unfitness for human consumption of any such carcase or any such offals, as the case may be, shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of veterinary examination Regulations, and the said Agricultural Produce (Fresh Meat) Act, 1930 , shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(2) A veterinary examiner (within the meaning of the Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935 ) shall, in determining whether any carcase or any bacon or any offals, which is or are found on any licensed premises (within the meaning of that Act) is or are unfit for human consumption, have regard to the provisions of veterinary examination Regulations and the unfitness for human consumption of any such carcase, any such bacon or any such offals, as the case may be, shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of veterinary examination Regulations, and the said Pigs and Bacon Act, 1935 , shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

1 O.J. No. 121 of 29.7.1964

2 O.J. No. L302 of 31.12.1972

3 O.J. No. L26 of 31.1.1977