25 Tex. Admin. Code § 221.15 - Inspection of Alternate Source Food Animals
(a)
Requirements. Specific requirements of this section are in addition to those
required by the rules adopted for inspection of livestock, under the Texas Meat
and Poultry Inspection Act, and federal regulations as listed in §
221.11 of this subchapter
(relating to Federal Regulations on Meat and Poultry Inspection).
(b) Fees. Fees are assessed in one-half hour
increments for inspection services, provided by a department inspector to a
facility holding a grant of inspection, as specified in §
221.16 of this subchapter
(relating to Fees). Failure of a grant holder to promptly pay invoices will
result in cessation of overtime inspection services. Inspection time includes:
(1) the inspector's time in the field during
a hunt;
(2) the inspector's time
spent completing inspection records;
(3) the inspector's time spent waiting for
any purpose to facilitate the processor;
(4) the inspector's time for travel between
hunt sites; and
(5) the inspector's
time for travel from the inspector's official duty location to the field site
and return.
(c) Sanitary
Dressing Procedures. The following are general guidelines of sanitary dressing
applicable to all species of livestock slaughtered.
(1) The person performing slaughter
operations must not permit any contamination of edible portions of the carcass
with materials such as feces, urine, hair, ingesta, milk, bile, pathological
tissues and exudates, or other filth. All controls of slaughter and dressing
procedures must be aimed at accomplishing this purpose.
(2) Slaughter operations must be conducted in
a manner that precludes contamination, i.e., adequate separation of carcasses,
parts, and viscera during dressing; routine cleaning and disinfection of
certain equipment and hand tools; design and arrangement of equipment to
prevent the contact of successive carcasses and parts; and appropriately
located, functional lavatories and disinfection units.
(3) In the event contamination does occur, it
must be handled promptly and in a manner that ensures adequate protection to
the remaining product. Contamination with feces, milk, pus, or pathological
tissue or exudate must be promptly removed by trimming. Removal must be
complete. Enough tissue must be removed so only clean meat remains. Scraping
with the edge or back of a knife, wiping with a cloth or towel, or the use of a
water spray are unacceptable procedures for removal of this type of
contamination.
(d) Exotic
Animals.
(1) Sanitation. All slaughter
operations are to be conducted in a way that precludes contamination. The
following conditions, at a minimum, must be met.
(A) The slaughter facility unit must be
constructed of smooth and impervious material capable of being thoroughly
cleaned and sanitized before commencing operations and must be so
maintained.
(B) Potable water must
be used in conjunction with exotic animal slaughter procedures. Water from
private water wells must be tested for potability by an approved laboratory
within six months before use. Water from portable water tanks must be tested by
an approved laboratory every six months to determine that potable water remains
potable after being in the portable tanks. Results of such testing must be made
available to the department inspector.
(C) Hot water at a temperature adequate to
facilitate equipment and unit sanitization during pre-operational and
operational sanitation procedures is required on the skinning and evisceration
floor. A procedure utilizing chemical sanitization in lieu of hot water may be
used.
(D) Mobile as well as fixed
slaughter units must provide adequate measures to control flies, other insects,
and dust.
(E) Inedible by-products
must be handled in a manner that does not create an insanitary condition or
adulteration and ensures inedibles are not diverted to human food. When
containers are used to remove inedibles from the premises, such containers must
be marked "INEDIBLE" in letters at least two inches high. An adequate amount of
denaturant in accordance with 9 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §314.3
must be used on all products placed in the "INEDIBLE" containers.
(2) Ante-mortem procedures.
(A) The producer must certify by completing
and signing form MSA-71, Microchip Certification and Drug Advisory For
Alternate Food Animal Species, whether the animal or animals have been
identified with a microchip device.
(B) For mobile and field slaughter, once an
animal has been shot, the animal will be exsanguinated as soon as possible in
the field with a properly sanitized knife. The assigned inspector will examine
and inspect each animal before its entry into the processing facility to ensure
the animals being harvested appear to have been healthy and were killed by the
harvester.
(C) For field slaughter,
environmental temperature may affect the time that may lapse before it is
necessary to return to the mobile slaughter unit or processing facility for
skinning and eviscerating. High environmental temperature may shorten the time
lapse before dressing, as dressing must begin before the carcass becomes
distended due to gas formation in the interstitial tissues or in the small
intestine. The department inspector has the final decision in determining the
actual time allowed between exsanguination and skinning; however, a 2-1/2 hour
time lapse may not be exceeded.
(3) Post-mortem procedures.
(A) The vehicle used for transporting the
slaughtered exotic animals must be clean before use and must be cleaned as
needed, during the operation.
(B)
Dressing procedures are to begin at the slaughter unit or facility as soon as
practical after slaughter.
(C)
Heads from animals slaughtered by gunshot to the head must not be used for food
purposes. Such heads must be denatured and placed into inedible
containers.
(D) In the event an
animal is shot in an area other than the head, the resulting wound area and
bruised areas must be trimmed of all contamination.
(E) The dressing of any animal whether it be
the removal of a foot, head, or any part is strictly forbidden in any area
other than inside the slaughter unit, regardless of the size of the animal.
However, the removal of the antlers only is permitted before entering the
slaughter facility.
(4)
Dressing procedures.
(A) Persons butchering an
animal must keep hands as clean as possible. Adequate hand washing facilities
must be readily available.
(B)
Skinning operations must be conducted in a sanitary manner.
(C) As the pelt is removed, care must be
taken to prevent contamination of the carcass by dirty hands, knife, or
pelt.
(D) If a pelt puller is used
in such a manner the carcass is raised to a horizontal position, the carcasses
of the female animals must be checked closely for urine leakage.
(E) Heads must remain with the carcass until
inspection is completed. Nasal and oral cavities should be flushed before heads
are placed on inspection tables.
(F) Overall washing of carcasses must be
accomplished before any openings are made for inspection or evisceration;
however, any feces, ingesta, or milk must be trimmed before washing. The washer
must take care to prevent filling the rectum with water during washing
operations.
(G) The knife or other
instrument used to open the breast must be disinfected after each
use.
(H) The bung is not to be
dropped until washing is completed. After opening the pelvic area, the neck of
the bladder and the dropped bung should be grasped firmly and held until they
clear the body cavity.
(I)
Evisceration must be accomplished in a manner that precludes contamination of
the carcass with contents from the bladder or intestine; viscera are to be
placed in an inspection pan.
(J) If
intestines are to be saved, contamination should be prevented by stripping or
tying between the large and small intestine before removing from the table and
sending to the next station.
(5) Processing. Processing of carcasses must
be conducted in a manner and location that complies with requirements for
processing all livestock carcasses, including the provisions adopted under
§
221.11 of this
subchapter.
Notes
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