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Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000)

Ostrich Regulations, 2007

Part II : Requirements for the Registration of Ostrich Abattoirs

A. Throughput and other requirements for grades

5. Requirements for low throughput ostrich abattoirs

 

 

Considering the requirements set out in Part II B(1) and (2), for an abattoir to be graded as a low throughput ostrich abattoir -

a) a maximum throughput of 20 units (40 ostriches) per day may not be exceeded, but the provincial executive officer may determine a lower maximum throughput for an abattoir on grounds of the capacity of the lairages, hourly throughput potential relative to available equipment and facilities including hanging space and chiller capacity;
b) the premises must be fenced and provided with a gate to control access of people and animals;
c) facilities to off-load birds humanely and from different vehicle levels must be provided;
d) a facility where livestock transport vehicles must be sanitized after off loading must be provided;
e) lairages and pens must be available to accommodate at least the throughput of one day;
f) a crush connecting the lairages to the restraining area must be provided;
g) a separate entrance must be provided to receive birds presented for emergency slaughter;
h) separate areas must be provided where stunning, bleeding, defeathering and dressing can be done with the understanding that the stunning area is under roof and adjacent to the bleeding area;
i) facilities for shackling stunned birds and bleeding in a hanging position must be provided;
j) a separate room, isolated by a sliding door from the dressing room, must be available for defeathering carcasses;
k) a separate room, equipped with dressing rails, must be provided where dressing and evisceration can be done;
l) a side rail or hooks for carcasses and containers for offal, must be provided for condemned or detained carcasses and organs requiring secondary meat inspection;
m) a room must be provided where skins, heads, feet, feathers and inedible products are kept, except where these products can be removed on a continuous basis;
n) a room where gizzards and intestines are emptied, washed and kept must be provided;
o) the rooms mentioned in paragraphs (m) and (n) must -
i) be separate and adjacent to the dressing room and interconnected by means of a hatch, door or walkway; and
ii) have exterior doors for the removal of those materials;
p) separate chillers must be provided for the daily throughput -
i) of carcasses and red offal, unless the red offal is removed from the abattoir on a continuous basis but within four hours after a bird has been eviscerated, and if separate dispatch facilities have been provided for red offal; and
ii) of washed rough offal, unless washed rough offal is removed from the abattoir on a continuous basis but within four hours after a bird has been eviscerated;
q) a dispatch area equipped to remove legs, sort and mark carcasses and red offal as well as a door for dispatch must be provided;
r) a personnel entrance to the clean areas of the plant must be provided and must be designed as an ante-chamber for cleaning purposes and must be provided with hand wash-basins, soap dispensers, hand drying facilities, a boot wash, facilities to wash aprons, hooks for aprons and a refuse container and at the discretion of the provincial executive officer, personnel entrances to other areas of the plant need not be provided with an ante-chamber but must be provided with conveniently placed boot wash and hand wash facilities at the entrance to such areas;
s) change room, shower, toilet as well as hand wash facilities must be provided on the premises for persons working at the abattoir;
t) dining facilities must be provided with tables and chairs or benches and must be situated so that personnel do not sit or lie on the ground or soil their protective clothing during rest periods;
u) a storage facility or room for items needed in the daily slaughter process must be provided;
v) if an office is required by the owner, a separate room must be provided;
w) rooms or facilities must be provided for -
i) storage of cleaning equipment and materials; and
ii) cleaning and sterilization of movable equipment.