Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000)11. Essential national standards |
| 1) | The following essential national standards apply to all abattoirs: |
| a) | A slaughter facility may only be registered as an abattoir if it complies with the prescribed requirements relating to throughput, structural requirements, hygiene management practices and related matters; |
| b) | the owner of an abattoir must procure a meat inspection service for that abattoir; |
| c) | meat inspection services may only be performed by the national executive officer, a provincial executive officer, an authorised person or an assignee, who must perform that function independently from the abattoir; |
| d) | a person contemplated in paragraph (c) must be a veterinarian, meat inspector, meat examiner, animal health technician or such other duly qualified person as may be prescribed; |
| e) | an abattoir must be managed in accordance with a prescribed hygiene management and evaluation system; |
| f) | any person entering an abattoir must adhere to the prescribed hygiene requirements; |
| g) | water used in an abattoir must conform to the prescribed standard; |
| h) | an animal presented for slaughter at an abattoir must be handled humanely during loading, transportation, off-loading, housing, immobilising and killing as prescribed in accordance with the requirements of the Animals Protection Act, 1962 (Act No. 71 of 1962); |
| i) | no dead animal or animal suffering from a condition that may render the meat unsafe for human and animal consumption may be presented at an abattoir for slaughter; |
| j) | an animal presented for slaughter must be examined by a person contemplated in paragraph (c) before slaughter, and must be accompanied by information as to its ownership; |
| k) | an animal presented for slaughter in accordance with an animal health scheme in terms of the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984), may only be accepted for slaughter if the animal is identified in accordance with the requirements of the scheme in question; |
| l) | any person suspecting that an animal is infected with a controlled animal disease as prescribed by or under the Animal Diseases Act, 1984 (Act No. 35 of 1984), must convey that suspicion without delay to a veterinarian in the employ of the Department or a province; |
| m) | meat and animal products must be inspected, marked and dealt with in accordance with the prescribed methods by a person contemplated in paragraph (c); |
| n) | meat may only be removed from an abattoir if it is duly marked and the method of removal thereof poses no risk to the safety of the meat for human and animal consumption; |
| o) | the owner of an abattoir must keep the prescribed records relating to the number of animals slaughtered, the origin of animals slaughtered, details of examinations carried out while the animals were alive and inspections carried out after the animals had been slaughtered and the destination of the meat and animal products, and must at the request of a person contemplated in paragraph (c) furnish such information to that person; |
| p) | the owner of an abattoir with prescribed laboratory facilities must ensure access to the laboratory by the national executive officer, a provincial executive officer, an authorised person and an assignee; |
| q) | the use, application and presence of specified substances and residues in meat and animal products must be detected and monitored in accordance with the prescribed methods; |
| r) | the treatment, removal or disposal of condemned material, effluent, refuse and emissions must be carried out in accordance with the prescribed procedures; and |
| s) | animals may not be slaughtered for research purposes unless a research protocol has been submitted and approved by the national executive officer. |
| 2) | The national executive officer may perform any function which is reasonably necessary for and incidental to the effective application of the essential national standards. |
| 3) | The Minister may, subject to such conditions as may be specified by him or her after consultation with the MEC of an affected province, grant exemption from any essential national standard in respect of a particular- |
| a) | area; |
| b) | grade of abattoir; |
| c) | owner or category or group of owners; |
| d) | person or category or group of persons; and |
| e) | kind of animal. |