Food-specific requirements and guidance – Meat products and food animals

The information below focuses mainly on slaughtering activities, carcasses and their parts as a result of slaughtering activities and the welfare of food animals during slaughtering activities. Before you review this information, read the information on General food requirements and guidance. The Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) set out many requirements that apply across food commodities, along with the specific requirements highlighted here.

Additional requirements for Food imports and Food exports may apply also to your business.

Know the requirements

The documents listed below are incorporated by reference in the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) and have the same force of law as the SFCR itself.

• Ante-mortem examination and presentation procedures for food animals
• Fundamentals of post-mortem defect management program
• Fundamentals of the post-mortem examination program
• Preventive control requirements for biological hazards in meat products (Control measures for Escherichia coli O157:H7/NM in raw beef products.)
• Meat products containing shellfish
• Canadian standards of identity volume 7, meat products
• Canadian grade compendium volume 1, ovine carcasses and poultry carcasses
• Grade names for imported food (See item 53 in this table for information relevant to meat products.)
• Grade designations for imported food (See items 3-6 in this table for information relevant to meat products.)
• Units of measurement for the net quantity declaration of certain foods
• Maximum quantity limits for personal use exemption

Regulatory requirements for slaughter and meat products

• Standards for ante-mortem examination and inspection
• Standards for post-mortem evaluation of food animal carcasses
• Standards to identify a meat product as edible
• Standards for the management of condemned and inedible food animals and meat products
• Regulatory requirement: inspection services for food animals and meat products
• Application of the inspection legend on food animal carcasses before refrigeration

Regulatory requirements for humane treatment of food animals during slaughtering activities

• Humane treatment of food animals at the slaughter establishment
• Ritual slaughter without stunning
• Humane stunning and slaughter of food animals and post-cut management

Preventive control recommendations

Preventive controls for food – Meat products
Find information on select preventive control recommendations for operators to mitigate food safety risks associated with the preparation of processed meat products.

Additional guidance

The following guidance documents include historically accepted and proven parameters, examples of control measures, and other information to help facilitate regulatory compliance. Note there may be other controls that satisfy the requirements under Part 6, Division 7 of the SFCR that are not listed below. Always ensure that the controls you choose are tailored to the uniqueness of your business and are shown to be effective for your situation.

Guidance on slaughter activities

Common

• Food animal identification
• Ante-mortem examination guidelines
• Post-mortem evaluation procedures
• Dressing procedures and preparation of edible parts
• Guidance on Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspection stations for slaughter operation of food animals and meat products
• Controls on contamination
• Microbial controls

Poultry

• Poultry establishment construction and equipment
• Food animal information document for poultry
• Guidance on evisceration of reproductive system in young poultry
• Additional poultry and rabbit dressing, evisceration floor procedures
• Poultry and rabbit meat refrigeration, chilling, and freezing procedures
• Poultry off-line and on-line reprocessing and reconditioning procedures
• Poultry pathogen reduction program
• Poultry re-examination program
• Poultry water retention control program
• Post-mortem examination program
• Procedures for preparation of feet or paws (poultry), head and feet-on carcasses (poultry), head-on (rabbits) for edible purposes
• Protocol for piloting new technology and procedures for poultry slaughter
• Training protocol for post-mortem examination program

Red meat

• Equine Information Document
• Control programs: water retention in edible raw red meat products
• Modernized Slaughter Inspection Program (MSIP) Hog
• Exemption to the application of the inspection legend before refrigeration
• Guidance on Specified risk material (SRM)
• Disposition manual for red meat species
• Trichinella carcass testing methodology
• Held rail activities in red meat slaughter

Guidance on animal welfare during slaughter activities

• Guidelines for stunning techniques of mammalian food animals
• Evidence showing an animal welfare preventive measure is effective
• Guidelines for animal welfare preventive control plans and self-audits for the slaughter of food animals
• Guidelines for the humane care and handling of food animals at slaughter
• Guidelines for ritual slaughter of food animals without pre-slaughter stunning
• Guidelines for stunning techniques for avian food animals, including ratites
• Mechanical, electrical or gas stunning; slaughter methods and monitoring signs of unconsciousness or consciousness
• Objective performance criteria for humane slaughter - red meat species and poultry

Documents under development

There are additional guidance documents under development and will be made available in the near future. These include several topics that have been covered by the Meat Hygiene Manual of Procedures (MHMOP), in particular chapters 17 (ante and post-mortem procedures, dispositions, monitoring and controls - meat species, ostriches, rheas and emus) and chapter 19 (poultry inspection programs). In the interim, the guidance in the Meat Hygiene Manual of Procedures may be used for reference; however the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) apply at all times.

• Canadian Carcass Poultry Grading Program – Inspection manual for graded poultry – Inspection manual for graded poultry
• Refrigeration for red meat - Refer to MHMOP 17.11
• Process controls - Refer to MHMOP Chapter 17 Annex B, MHMOP Chapter 17 Annex C, and MHMOP 19.6
• Inedible meat products - Refer to MHMOP Chapter 6
• Animal information document for equine - Refer to MHMOP Chapter 17 Annex E
• Poultry data collection forms - Refer to MHMOP Chapter 19 Annex A Data Collection Forms
• Swine HACCP generic model
• Poultry HACCP generic model
• Game animal slaughter preventive controls
• Trichinella on-farm food safety programs

Related information

Food business activities that require a license under the SFCR
Learn more about specific meat related activities that would or would not require a licence under the SFCR.