BSE food safety controls The Australian Questionnaire requires countries to have in place effective controls during the slaughtering process so that food for human consumption is prevented from becoming contaminated with materials that may contain BSE. It also requires a country to demonstrate effective and timely systems for the accurate identification, traceability and recall of meat and meat products in the event of a food safety issue. This chapter describes how these requirements are addressed in Latvia. Meat processing Legislation Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 sets out food safety requirements for meat which include provisions for: (1) responsibilities of the official veterinarian in ante- and postmortem mortem inspection; (2) general inspection procedures; (3) removal, separation, and marking of SRM; (4) marking of animals and carcasses with the official health mark; (5) documentation of inspection results and decisions; (6) communication of inspection results to operators across the production chain; and (7) qualifications and training of slaughterhouse staff (including official veterinarians). Additional requirements prohibit the use of ruminant bones in the production of mechanically separated meat (Regulation (EC) No 999/2001) and require BSE testing of atrisk animals to prevent contaminated meat from entering the human food chain (according to EC requirements for surveillance, see Section 18). More generally, Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 Article 5 Part 1 requires that plans be properly documented and implemented and Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 sets out general hygiene requirements for foods of animal origin. Factories process meat for human consumption (e.g. cutting plants) must be registered and approved by the FVS. Procedures to prevent BSE contamination of food Methods that may potentially spread central nervous system (CNS) material to tissues destined for human consumption are banned. Specifically, pithing and stunning by use of gas injection into the cranial cavity are prohibited in bovine animals under EU legislation. As described in Section 7, carcasses are inspected for removal of SRM by official veterinarians who are supervised by the TSU senior food or veterinary inspectors. As observed during inspections of slaughtering facilities at the in-country verification visit, SRM is isolated, transported, and disposed of in such a way that it cannot be diverted for food use. Only carcasses which pass inspection for SRM removal receive a health mark which permits them to be further processed.
BSE food safety controls The Australian Questionnaire requires countries to have in place effective controls during the slaughtering process so that food for human consumption is prevented from becoming contaminated with materials that may contain BSE. It also requires a country to demonstrate effective and timely systems for the accurate identification, traceability and recall of meat and meat products in the event of a food safety issue. This chapter describes how these requirements are addressed in Latvia. Meat processing Legislation Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 sets out food safety requirements for meat which include provisions for: (1) responsibilities of the official veterinarian in ante- and postmortem mortem inspection; (2) general inspection procedures; (3) removal, separation, and marking of SRM; (4) marking of animals and carcasses with the official health mark; (5) documentation of inspection results and decisions; (6) communication of inspection results to operators across the production chain; and (7) qualifications and training of slaughterhouse staff (including official veterinarians). Additional requirements prohibit the use of ruminant bones in the production of mechanically separated meat (Regulation (EC) No 999/2001) and require BSE testing of atrisk animals to prevent contaminated meat from entering the human food chain (according to EC requirements for surveillance, see Section 18). More generally, Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 Article 5 Part 1 requires that plans be properly documented and implemented and Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 sets out general hygiene requirements for foods of animal origin. Factories process meat for human consumption (e.g. cutting plants) must be registered and approved by the FVS. Procedures to prevent BSE contamination of food Methods that may potentially spread central nervous system (CNS) material to tissues destined for human consumption are banned. Specifically, pithing and stunning by use of gas injection into the cranial cavity are prohibited in bovine animals under EU legislation. As described in Section 7, carcasses are inspected for removal of SRM by official veterinarians who are supervised by the TSU senior food or veterinary inspectors. As observed during inspections of slaughtering facilities at the in-country verification visit, SRM is isolated, transported, and disposed of in such a way that it cannot be diverted for food use. Only carcasses which pass inspection for SRM removal receive a health mark which permits them to be further processed.
Revised%20BSE%20Food%20Safety%20Risk%20Assessment%20Report_Latvia.docx