Volume 6: Human Health, 1989-96
Annex 1 to Chapter 4: Unfit meat and human food
The Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989

4.866 The Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989 prohibited the sale or use in the preparation of food for sale for human consumption of 'specified bovine offal' (SBO). ¹ 'Specified bovine offal' was defined in the Regulations as being the brain, spinal cord, spleen, thymus, tonsils and intestines of a bovine animal slaughtered in the UK. ² Thus, whilst SBO was not brought directly within the scope of 'unfit' meat as defined in the Meat Inspection Regulations 1963, it was effectively rendered unfit for human consumption.

4.867 In order to effect the separation of SBO from non-SBO material at the slaughterhouse, the Regulations utilised the regime established under the 1982 MSSR for the separation of unfit meat from fit meat.

4.868 Thus, a parallel regime was introduced under the 1989 Regulations whereby SBO at a slaughterhouse was required to be immediately sterilised (or placed in a designated place for meat awaiting sterilisation and with a notice attached that the contents are for later sterilisation at the slaughterhouse). ³ Alternatively, the requirement to sterilise SBO was obviated by the SBO being stained immediately after slaughter. ⁴ 'Sterilisation' and 'staining' were defined by reference to the definitions in the 1982 MSSR. This meant that SBO would be stained with the same stains as unfit meat.

4.869 An express provision was contained in the Regulations whereby it was made clear that the severance of SBO from non-SBO material which was not to be sterilised or stained was permissible under the Regulations. ⁵ Once severance of the SBO had been effected, the SBO had to be kept in a separate room from meat fit for human consumption unless or until it had been either sterilised or stained and was stored under an arrangement that ensured it was at all times kept separate from fit meat. In addition, the container or packing in which any SBO was stored was required to bear a clear notice stating that the SBO held in that container was not for human consumption. ⁶

4.870 Sterilised SBO could be removed from the slaughterhouse without restriction. ⁷ By contrast, unsterilised SBO could be removed from the slaughterhouse to one of only three specified destinations, and only under the authority of a movement permit. These destinations were as follows:

1. excepted premises;
2. the premises of a processor for sterilisation; or
3. the premises of a person for preparation prior to further removal to a processor, or for storage prior to further removal to one of the above two destinations.

4.871 With one important exception, this removal could not be effected unless the SBO was both stained and to be removed in a vehicle or impervious container which was locked or sealed at all times and which bore a notice affixed by the occupier of the slaughterhouse clearly stating that the SBO therein was not for human consumption.

4.872 The exception was in the case of 'excepted premises'. These 'excepted premises' were defined in the Regulations as either:

1. a hospital, medical or veterinary school, laboratory or similar institution for instructional or diagnostic purposes, a rennet manufacturer or a manufacturing chemist (in circumstances where he receives the offal for the manufacture by him of pharmaceutical products); or
2. premises used for the manufacture of products other than food and not used for the manufacture of food. ⁸

4.873 In the case of removal to these excepted premises SBO could be removed neither sterilised nor stained provided the removal was carried out under the authority of a movement permit. ⁹ This provision mirrors a similar exception in the 1982 MSSR, whereby the removal of unfit meat to laboratories, manufacturing chemists and the like could be carried out without material being sterilised or stained. However, the scope of the exception was wider in the 1989 Regulations, including, as it did, removal of SBO to any manufacturing premises not used for the manufacture of food.

4.874 Notwithstanding the scope of this exception, it did not, in practice, mean that unsterilised SBO was removed to manufacturers of animal feedstuff. Under the Food Act 1984, 'food' was to be interpreted as not including animal feedstuff. ¹⁰ Consequently, the exemption included within its scope the removal of SBO to a manufacturer of animal feedstuff. However, such manufacturers would ordinarily receive SBO from a renderer after it had been rendered. A renderer was permitted under the Regulations to receive unsterilised SBO by virtue of being a processor to whom it was removed for sterilisation. ¹¹ The process of rendering the SBO would then constitute sterilisation of the SBO within the meaning of the Regulations. Sterilised SBO could then be removed from the rendering plant without restriction (whether to a manufacturer of animal feedstuff or otherwise). ¹²

4.875 More generally, the removal of unsterilised SBO from a place other than a slaughterhouse or knacker's yard was prohibited subject to identical exceptions as removal from a slaughterhouse with the addition of two further exceptions. These were delivery to a knacker's yard and delivery to a slaughterhouse of the offal as an accompaniment to a dressed carcass. ¹³

4.876 It follows from this that knacker's yards were not covered in any way by the provisions of the SBO Regulations. SBO, by definition, was derived from slaughtered animals, whereas knacker's yards dealt largely with fallen stock. The requirements as to sterilisation and staining of SBO applied only to the slaughterhouse. The prohibition on removal of SBO applied only to the slaughterhouse and 'to a place other than the slaughterhouse or a knacker's yard'. Thus, by contrast with the 1982 MSSR where knacker meat was presumed to be unfit, ¹⁴ the regime introduced by the SBO Regulations left knacker's yards untouched.

4.877 A further specific exemption from the requirement to sterilise SBO was made in the case of the brain of a bovine contained within its head. Provided the head was intended to be separately removed from the slaughterhouse to a specialist boning plant for the recovery of the head meat (under the authority of a movement permit), the brain was exempted from the sterilisation requirement. ¹⁵ However, the occupier of the boning plant was required, after removal of the head meat, either to sterilise or stain the skull with the brain still inside, or to remove the brain and sterilise or stain it separately. ¹⁶

4.878 The removal of unsterilised SBO was controlled by a system of movement permits. ¹⁷ This system was identical in every respect to that which applied under the 1982 MSSR for controlling the removal of unfit meat, save that the material covered by the permit was SBO and the form of the permit reflected this.

4.879 The monitoring of this system of movement permits was in the hands of the local authority who controlled their issue. In order to acquire a permit from the local authority the occupier of the slaughterhouse had to lodge an application for a permit to his local authority at least two days before it was intended to remove the unfit meat from the premises. To enter an application the occupier was required to inform the local authority of the intended removal date, give them a description of the SBO, the address and description of the premises to which the SBO was to be delivered and the date on which the consignment would arrive at those premises. ¹⁸ The local authority was to issue a permit only upon being satisfied that the premises destined to receive the SBO fell within the scope of the premises to which unsterilised SBO could be removed and that they were capable of processing or otherwise disposing of the SBO. ¹⁹

4.880 As with the 1982 MSSR, the need to apply for a separate permit for each removal was obviated by the fact that an occupier could apply for a block quantity of permits. This was possible where the occupier regularly delivered SBO to a particular destination. The local authority had a discretion, in such a case, to issue whatever quantity of permits it considered appropriate. ²⁰

4.881 Each movement permit took a specified form and had to be completed in accordance with the Regulations. The permit was divided into Parts I to V. Part I was to be completed by the local authority upon authorising the removal. ²¹ The local authority issuing officer was required to enter on the permit the name and address of the consignor, the name and address of the consignee and premises to which the SBO was to be delivered, and the name and address of the local authority in whose area those premises were located. The permit gave the local authority the option of specifying a maximum quantity of SBO to be removed and/or a date by which removal had to have taken place. Having completed Part I, the local authority was required to make three copies of the movement permit and hand both the original and the copies to the occupier. Completion of Part I thereby authorised the named consignor to despatch SBO to the specified delivery address subject to any limitations imposed by the authority as to quantity and/or time of delivery.

4.882 Part II was for completion by the occupier of the premises from which the meat was to be removed. He was required to fill in details of the consignment, including a description of the SBO, the quantity to be removed, and the containers in which it was to be carried. The occupier was then required to make a declaration that the SBO was despatched on the date shown. Having completed Part II, the occupier handed the original and two of the copies to the driver of the vehicle in which the SBO was removed and retained the third copy for at least two years. ²²

4.883 Upon delivering the consignment, the driver of the delivery vehicle was required to hand the original permit and the two remaining copies to the occupier of the premises named on the permit as the delivery premises. ²³ This occupier was then required to fill in Part III. This took the form of a declaration by him that the SBO described by the consignor had been duly delivered to the premises identified in the permit. Having made this declaration, the occupier then sent the original permit and one copy to his local authority, retaining the second copy for himself (again for at least two years). ²⁴

4.884 In the event that, for whatever reason, the driver was unable to deliver the SBO to the named premises, he was immediately to inform either the local authority which issued the permit, or the local authority in whose area the delivery premises were located. That authority was required to immediately authorise either delivery to an alternative specified destination, return to the consignor, or burial and destruction. Only in these circumstances was Part IV required to be completed, the information and declaration being provided by the occupier of the premises which ultimately took delivery of the SBO. ²⁵

4.885 The final stage in this process was the receipt of the original permit and one copy by the local authority in whose area the consignee premises were located. That authority was required simply to enter the date upon which it received the permit, and return the original to the issuing authority. ²⁶

4.886 As Regulations made under the Food Act 1984, the 1989 Regulations were enforceable by means of the blanket power given to authorised officers of the local authority to enter any premises at a reasonable hour for the purpose of ascertaining whether any contravention of the Regulations had taken place. ²⁷ However, in contrast with the 1982 MSSR, the 1989 Regulations conferred upon authorised officers no additional power to examine and seize SBO with a view to securing its condemnation where it had not been dealt with in accordance with the Regulations. ²⁸

4.887 It should be noted that the Regulations contained certain exemptions. First, the Regulations did not apply at all to SBO from a bovine not more than 6 months old when slaughtered. Second, the requirements as to sterilisation, staining and removal did not apply to two specified categories of SBO:

1. any SBO which is removed or is intended to be removed from any place by, or under the authority of, a veterinary surgeon for examination by him or on behalf of him; and
2. any SBO which is neither held for the purposes of a business nor on premises on which the bovine animal whose offal it is has been slaughtered. ²⁹