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Hygiene requirements for handling small quantities of farm slaughtered poultry and lagomorphs meat
[RTL 2006, 49, 899 - entry into force 01.07.2006]

Passed 23.12.2005 No. 127
RTL 2005, 124, 1974
Entry into force 01.01.2006

Amended by the following legal instruments (show)

This Regulation is established pursuant to § 26 (3) of the Food Act and Article 1 (4) of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (OJ L 139, 30.04. 2004, p. 55–205).
[RTL 2010, 23, 408 - entry into force 10.05.2010]

§ 1.  General provisions

 (1) This Act establishes handling hygiene requirements for small quantities of meat from poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered in a livestock building or facility or enclosure (hereinafter farm), which is sold or delivered in some other way by producer for or without charge (hereinafter delivery) directly to final consumer or retailer, incl. to a catering establishment, who will deliver this meat from its retail establishment located in Estonia, incl. from a catering establishment, directly to final consumer. It is prohibited to deliver uncooked meat and viscera to final consumer from a catering establishment.

 (2) For the purposes of this Regulation, poultry and lagomorphs are the animals referred to in Annex I (1.3, 1.4) to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and carcase is the carcase referred to in point 1.9.

 (3) For the purposes of this Regulation, small quantity of meat is a smaller quantity than from 10 000 birds or from 3000 lagomorphs a year or in case of several species no more than from 10 000 animals a year.

 (4) For the purposes of this Regulation, final consumer is the consumer referred to in Article 3 (18) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (OJ L 031, 01.02.2002, p. 1–24).

 (5) Requirements provided in this Regulation are not applied to handling of animal products originating from sick or suspect animals.
[RTL 2006, 49, 899 – entry into force 01.07.2006]

§ 2.  Requirements for handling and handling facilities

 (1) To slaughter poultry and lagomorphs and to process their fresh meat, the following hygiene requirements must be met:
 1) The Veterinary and Food Board is notified of the slaughter of poultry or lagomorphs at least 72 hours before the slaughter commences, an official veterinarian is allowed to inspect the poultry and lagomorphs before the slaughter, and the data provided in subsection 6 (2) concerning their keeping is submitted to the official veterinarian;
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]
 2) farm must have a suitable room for stunning, bleeding, skinning or plucking and a separate room or a part of a room for evisceration and other hygienic dressing of carcases;
 3) depending on the number of simultaneously slaughtered animals and on the size of the room and presuming that the requirements for safe handling have been met, the activities listed in point 2 may be carried out in the same room;
 4) to wash hands, work equipment and carcases, sufficient water meeting the requirements for drinking water provided for in Water Act must be available;
 5) workers must wear clean clothes;
 6) for meat chilling, there must be a chill-room or certain cooling environment on the farm;
 7) official veterinarian shall inspect meat and determine its suitability for human consumption;
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]
 8) when placed on the market, the temperature of chilled meat must not be higher than 4 ºC. It must be possible to check if meat meets the temperature requirement.

 (2) To slaughter poultry and lagomorphs and to handle their meat, workers must meet the requirements proceeding from legal acts on occupational health and other legal acts. Workers must clean, wash and disinfect hands and work equipment before they start work, during work, before rest pause and after toilet use and after each work which contaminates hands or work equipment. Work equipment, such as knives, bone cutting instruments, scissors, etc. shall be washed with hot water.

 (3) Separate lockable facilities for the storage of equipment and substances used for cleaning, washing and disinfection of handling premises must be available.

 (4) On the farm and in handling premises regular rodent control and disinfection, if necessary, must be carried out. Access of stray animals to the territory of the farm must be excluded.

 (5) Fresh meat handling premises must meet the following hygiene requirements:
 1) floors must be of strong impervious and rot-proof material, smooth, washable and easy to disinfect, sloping towards discharge outlets. Wood flooring is not allowed;
 2) walls and subdivisions must be strong, thick, watertight, smooth and of bright-coloured material emitting neither particles nor rust. Use of wood for finishing material is prohibited;
 3) ceilings or the interior surface of the roof must be watertight, easy to clean and bright-coloured and finished so as to prevent the accumulation of dirt and condensation. The shedding of particles is not allowed;
 4) doors must be tight, strong, of smooth surface and non-absorbent and finished with material easy to clean; wooden doors must be finished on both sides with noncorrodible material easy to clean;
 5) finishing materials must be smell-less and safe to fresh meat;
 6) windows must close tightly, window frames and sills must be easily washable and of strong noncorrodible material; it is not allowed to keep objects on window sills;
 7) rooms must be provided with natural or mechanical ventilation;
 8) inside the workroom adequate natural or artificial lighting must be provided, lighting must not distort the natural colour of meat;
 9) electric cables must be installed following electrical safety requirements, they must be covered or easy to clean or wash; the accumulation of dirt or pollution must be prevented.

 (6) When handling fresh meat, washbasins for cleaning and disinfecting hands and work equipment provided with hot and cold running pressure water or water mixed to certain temperature prior washing must be available in close vicinity to workplace, disinfectants to disinfect work equipment and single-use napkins to dry hands must also be available.

§ 3.  Hygiene requirements for killing

 (1) Poultry and lagomorphs are bled immediately after stunning, using the method provided in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing (OJ L 303, 18.11.2009, p. 1–30).
[RT I, 12.03.2013, 1 – entry into force 15.03.2013]

 (2) Bleeding of poultry and lagomorphs must be full. Immediately after bleeding killed poultry shall be plucked and other dressing (if necessary) and evisceration shall be carried out. Killed lagomorphs shall be skinned.

 (3) Evisceration must be carried out in such a way that the viscera and cavities can be controlled. The viscera, except the kidneys, must be removed in such a way as to avoid their damaging and to prevent the spillage of digestive tract contents. The carcase and viscera shall be inspected by official veterinarian. Cutting up carcases before and after veterinary control is prohibited.
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]

§ 4.  Hygiene requirements for fresh meat handling

 (1) In all handling stages contamination of carcase and viscera must be prevented and the techniques and ways of handling to ensure the safety and quality of meat must be used.

 (2) Hen and broiler carcases may be water or air chilled, the carcases of other animal species are air chilled immediately after handling.

 (3) Poultry carcases are carefully washed with cold water before chilling. To clean or wipe carcases, it is not allowed to use woven cloths or cloths of other material. It is not allowed to fill the abdominal and chest cavities.

 (4) Parts of poultry and lagomorphs, carcases or their parts not fit for human consumption and slaughter waste are gathered into a relevant lidded container and taken out of the room. Animal by-products are handled according to the requirements provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 (Animal by-products Regulation) (OJ L 300, 14.11.2009, p. 1–33).
[RTL 2010, 23, 408 – entry into force 04.03.2011]

§ 5.  Requirements for marketing

 (1) It is allowed to market small quantities of meat from poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm throughout the year.
[RT I, 23 May 2014, 3 - entry into force 26 May 2014]

 (2) It is allowed to sell the carcases and viscera of poultry and lagomorphs.
[RT I, 23 May 2014, 3 - entry into force 26 May 2014]

 (3) Marketing of meat to wholesale establishments, by post or at mobile shops is prohibited.

 (4) Meat referred to in paragraph 1 may be marketed, provided that:
 1) producer has the approval to slaughter poultry or lagomorphs and to market their meat issued by the Veterinary and Food Board. To be granted approval, producer shall submit to the supervisory official data per calendar year on the number and species of kept poultry and lagomorphs and on the number of poultry and lagomorphs intended for slaughter;
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]
 2) by dates, producer shall keep records of the number of slaughtered poultry and lagomorphs, indicating the name of the receiver of sold meat or address of market place and the number of delivered carcases;
 3) poultry and lagomorphs of the farm are healthy;
 4) animals have been killed and handled meeting hygiene requirements and avoiding contamination of meat;
 5) after slaughter and before marketing, meat has been chilled to at least 4 ºC and unbroken cold chain has been guaranteed during transport;
 6) meat has been inspected by official veterinarian;
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]
 7) the producer presents for a retail establishment, incl. a catering establishment, a document concerning the quantity of sold meat, indicating the producer’s name and the location and address of the farm, the registration number of the farm, animal species and the date of slaughter, meat storage conditions and time, the number and net mass of carcases, and the name and contact information of the recipient.’
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]

 (5) Poultry and lagomorphs meat may be marketed in Estonia.

§ 6.  Record-keeping

 (1) Producer must keep records on poultry and lagomorphs kept on the farm and maintain the documents on marketed quantities for at least one year.
[RT I, 23 May 2014, 3 - entry into force 26 May 2014]

 (2) When keeping poultry and lagomorphs on the farm and when marketing the meat of slaughtered poultry and lagomorphs, producer shall keep at least the following records:
 1) date of arrival of animals on the farm and the location and the address or distinguishing mark of the farm of origin, including hatchery or breeding stock hen house;
 2) number of received animals;
 3) origin and name of feed, name and identification code of feed additive and the date of withdrawal of additive, if a withdrawal period for additive has been established;
 4) data on the consumption of feed and water on the farm, the results of veterinary inspections and diagnoses with laboratory statements, administered medicinal products, dates of administration and withdrawal periods;
 5) data on vaccinations, incl. dates of vaccination and the type of vaccine, infectious animal disease control and the results of the control of salmonella in poultry herds conducted pursuant to section 8 of Regulation No. 33 of the Minister of Agriculture of 20 May 2013 ‘Regulation of controlling salmonellosis’;
[RT I, 23 May 2014, 3 - entry into force 26 May 2014]
 6) number of killed animals and the date of slaughter;
 7) date of veterinary control and the name of the official veterinarian who carried out inspection.
[RT I, 29 March 2018, 1 - entry into force 1 April 2018]

 (3) Producer shall submit to the supervisory official the data and documents referred to in paragraph 1, if required.

§ 7.  Entry into force

  1 January 2006.