Import of animal by-products: relevant legislation and useful definitions

There are a number of pieces of EU legislation relating to Animal By-Products. Of particular note:

1. 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) No1774/2002 (Animal By-Products Regulation).

• Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 (pdf 313Kb)

2. Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council lays down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and implementing Council Directive 97/78/EC as regards certain samples and items exempt from veterinary checks at the border under that Directive European Union (Animal By-Products) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 187 of 2014).

• Commission Regulation (EU) No 142/2011 (pdf 8,957Kb)

1. ‘Animal by-products’ means entire bodies or parts of animals, products of animal origin or other products obtained from animals, which are not intended for human consumption, including oocytes, embryos and semen.

2. ‘Derived products’ means products obtained from one or more treatments, transformations or steps of processing of animal by- products.

3. ‘Operator’ means the natural or legal persons having an animal by- product or derived product under their actual control, including carriers, traders and users.

4. ‘User’ means the natural or legal persons using animal by-products and derived products for special feeding purposes, for research or for other specific purposes

5. ‘Establishment’ or ‘Plant’ means any place where any operation involving the handling of animal by-products or derived products is carried out, other than a fishing vessel

Category 1 material may be comprised of the following animal by-products:

Entire bodies and all body parts, including hides and skins, of the following animals:

(i) animals suspected of being infected by a TSE in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 or in which the presence of a TSE has been officially confirmed

(ii) animals killed in the context of TSE eradication measures

(iii) animals other than farmed and wild animals, including in particular pet animals, zoo animals and circus animals

(iv) animals used in a procedure or procedures defined in Article 3 of Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes ( 1 ), in cases where the competent authority decides that such animals or any of their body parts have the potential to pose serious health risks to humans or to other animals, as a result of that procedure or those procedures without prejudice to Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003;

(v) wild animals, when suspected of being infected with diseases communicable to humans or animals

the following material:

(i) specified risk material

(ii) entire bodies or parts of dead animals containing specified risk material at the time of disposal

(c) animal by-products derived from animals which have been submitted to illegal treatment as defined in Article 1(2)(d) of Directive 96/22/EC or Article 2(b) of Directive 96/23/EC

(d) animal by-products containing residues of other substances and environmental contaminants listed in Group B(3) of Annex I to Directive 96/23/EC, if such residues exceed the permitted level laid down by Community legislation or, in the absence thereof, by national legislation

(e) animal by-products collected during the treatment of waste water required by implementing rules adopted under point (c) of the first paragraph of Article 27:

(i) from establishments or plants processing Category 1 material

or

(ii) from other establishments or plants where specified risk material is being removed

(f) catering waste from means of transport operating internationally

(g) mixtures of Category 1 material with either Category 2 material or Category 3 material or both

Category 2 material may be comprised of the following animal by-products:

(a) manure, non-mineralised guano and digestive tract content

(b) animal by-products collected during the treatment of waste water required by implementing rules adopted under point (c) of the first paragraph of Article 27:

(i) from establishments or plants processing Category 2 material

or

(ii) from slaughterhouses other than those covered by Article 8(e)

(b) animal by-products containing residues of authorised substances or contaminants exceeding the permitted levels as referred to in Article 15(3) of Directive 96/23/EC

(c) products of animal origin which have been declared unfit for human consumption due to the presence of foreign bodies in those products

(d) products of animal origin, other than Category 1 material, that are:

(i) imported or introduced from a third country and fail to comply with Community veterinary legislation for their import or introduction into the Community except where Community legislation allows their import or introduction subject to specific restrictions or their return to the third country

or

(ii) dispatched to another Member State and fail to comply with requirements laid down or authorised by Community legislation except where they are returned with the authorisation of the competent authority of the Member State of origin

(e) animals and parts of animals, other than those referred to in the section detailing what constitutes Category 1 material (above) or Category 3 material (below):

(i)that died other than by being slaughtered or killed for human consumption, including animals killed for disease control purposes

(ii)foetuses

(iii) oocytes, embryos and semen which are not destined for breeding purposes

(iv) dead-in-shell poultry

(f) mixtures of Category 2 material with Category 3 material

(g) animal by-products other than Category 1 material or Category 3 material.

Category 3 material may be comprised of the following animal by-products:

(a) carcases and parts of animals slaughtered or, in the case of game, bodies or parts of animals killed, and which are fit for human consumption in accordance with Community legislation, but are not intended for human consumption for commercial reasons

(b) carcases and the following parts originating either from animals that have been slaughtered in a slaughterhouse and were considered fit for slaughter for human consumption following an ante-mortem inspection or bodies and the following parts of animals from game killed for human consumption in accordance with Community legislation:

(i) carcases or bodies and parts of animals which are rejected as unfit for human consumption in accordance with Community legislation, but which did not show any signs of disease communicable to humans or animals

(ii) heads of poultry

(iii) hides and skins, including trimmings and splitting thereof, horns and feet, including the phalanges and the carpus and metacarpus bones, tarsus and metatarsus bones, of:

a. animals, other than ruminants requiring TSE testing

and

b. ruminants which have been tested with a negative result in accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001

(iv) pig bristles

(v) feathers

(c) animal by-products from poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm as referred to in Article 1(3)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, which did not show any signs of disease communicable to humans or animals

(d) blood of animals which did not show any signs of disease communicable through blood to humans or animals obtained from the following animals that have been slaughtered in a slaughterhouse after having been considered fit for slaughter for human consumption following an ante-mortem inspection in accordance with Community legislation:

(i) animals other than ruminants requiring TSE testing

and

(ii) ruminants which have been tested with a negative result in accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001

(e) animal by-products arising from the production of products intended for human consumption, including degreased bones, greaves and centrifuge or separator sludge from milk processing

(f) products of animal origin, or foodstuffs containing products of animal origin, which are no longer intended for human consumption for commercial reasons or due to problems of manufacturing or packaging defects or other defects from which no risk to public or animal health arise

(g) petfood and feedingstuffs of animal origin, or feedingstuffs containing animal by-products or derived products, which are no longer intended for feeding for commercial reasons or due to problems of manufacturing or packaging defects or other defects from which no risk to public or animal health arises

(h) blood, placenta, wool, feathers, hair, horns, hoof cuts and raw milk originating from live animals that did not show any signs of disease communicable through that product to humans or animals

(i) aquatic animals, and parts of such animals, except sea mammals, which did not show any signs of disease communicable to humans or animals

(j) animal by-products from aquatic animals originating from establishments or plants manufacturing products for human consumption

(k) the following material originating from animals which did not show any signs of disease communicable through that material to humans or animals:

(i) shells from shellfish with soft tissue or flesh

(ii) the following originating from terrestrial animals:

a. hatchery by-products

b. eggs

c. egg by-products, including egg shells

(iii) day-old chicks killed for commercial reasons

(l) aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates other than species pathogenic to humans or animals

(m) animals and parts thereof of the zoological orders of Rodentia and Lagomorpha, except Category 1 material as referred to in Article 8(a)(iii), (iv) and (v) and Category 2 material as referred to in Article 9(a) to (g) of Regulation (EU) 1069/2009

(n) animals and parts thereof of the zoological orders of Rodentia and Lagomorpha, except Category 1 material as referred to in Article 8(a)(iii), (iv) and v) and Category 2 material as referred to in Article 9(a) to (g) of Regulation (EC) 1069/2009

(o) hides and skins, hooves, feathers, wool, horns, hair and fur originating from dead animals that did not show any signs of disease communicable through that product to humans or animals, other than those referred to in point (b) of this Article

(p) catering waste other than as referred to in Article 8(f) of Regulation (EC) 1069/2009