C 252/38
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
1.7.2022
‘During transport to the slaughterhouse, in rest areas and in the corrals in slaughterhouses, the animals must be kept separate from animals not eligible for certification.’
Am e ndm en t Amendment 14 (4 Proof of origin) R ea s on The requirements identified in this section have been revised in order to do away with provisions that are out of date or redundant in the light of current legislation or which should form part of the inspection procedures rather than the specification.
Updates are being made to the provisions on the registration of operators, in the light of the requirements in this regard for official inspections.
Previous wording: ‘Each point of sale must keep records, updated every day, of the following: arrivals and departures of certified meat; the certification marks held and issued to consumers.’
‘The following registers and documents must be kept on the premises of the certifying body: register of holdings; evidence that the producer is a member of the designation of origin scheme; register of slaughterhouses; register of cutting and packaging rooms; register of points of sale; list of certification marks issued (indicating the date of issue, the number of the certification mark and the body that received it); records of the deliveries of the pre-numbered dispatch books issued (which must make it possible to reconstitute the carcass) which must include records of the correspondence between the consignments dispatched and the certification marks issued and which will accompany and identify the carcasses, half-carcasses or quarter-carcasses from the slaughterhouse to the cutting and packaging room or butcher.
The records kept in these books will be centralised on a monthly basis; slaughter lists, sent each month by the agent authorised by the certifying body (indicating the animals’ identification numbers and the respective order numbers in the slaughterhouse); correspondence between the certification marks used by each of the bodies in the production sector; for each slaughterhouse, the codes, names of the breeders, addresses and numbers of the holdings of origin of the slaughtered animals.’
‘Any points of sale to the public (butcher’s shops, boutiques, supermarkets or restaurants) must be inspected by the certifying body and authorised by the group holding the right to use the Designation of Origin.
Authorisation may only be granted to those points of sale of which the health and sanitary conditions are in accordance with the legislation in force.
In cases where meat is sold retail and not packaged, it must be displayed separately and/or sold on an exclusive basis on certain days.
In all cases, the certifying body must guarantee the identification and origin of the cuts and/or portions and endeavour to ensure that any confusion among consumers is avoided.
Information leaflets containing the same details as shown on the “designation of origin” labelling affixed to the packaging must be available to the consumer in the point of sale.
At all points of sale, the “identification plaque” authorising sales must be displayed in a location that is clearly visible to consumers.
It must be removed if the establishment’s sales authorisation is withdrawn.’
New wording: (deleted) Method of production Am e ndm en t Amendment 15 R ea s on A minor amendment is made to the text describing feed management in order to improve its adaptation to the handling of young animals.
The traditional system is based on putting adult animals out to pasture every day, except during inclement weather.
Adult livestock means livestock aged over 12 months, i.e. animals classified in the young bull and cow categories which feed on uncultivated land in mountainous areas.
However, young animals remain on the holding, waiting until their mothers return from grazing to feed on mother’s milk.
The reasons for this separate handling are that it is difficult for young animals to handle the rigours of winter in the outdoors and to accompany the herds of adult animals during their long daily movements to marshes and commons, many of which are hard to reach and situated on hilly and uneven terrain.
It must be pointed out that the animals can cover several kilometres a day from the holding to the pastures and commons and back.
If the young animals were to accompany their parents on these trips, the quality of their meat would decline considerably, particularly as regards its characteristic and prized tenderness.