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
• 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 pre-slaughter 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 and meat manufacturing activities

Common

• Ante-mortem examination guidelines
• Controls on contamination in red meat and poultry establishments
• Dressing procedures and preparation of edible parts
• Food animal identification
• Game animal slaughter preventive controls (available upon request)
• Guidance on Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspection stations for slaughter operation of food animals and meat products
• Microbial controls for meat products and food animals
• Post-mortem evaluation procedures

Poultry

• Additional poultry and rabbit dressing, evisceration floor procedures
• Food animal information document for poultry
• Guidance on evisceration of reproductive system in young poultry
• Post-mortem examination program
• Poultry and rabbit meat refrigeration, chilling, and freezing procedures
• Poultry establishment construction and equipment
• Poultry off-line and on-line reprocessing and reconditioning procedures
• Poultry pathogen reduction program
• Poultry re-examination program
• Poultry water retention control 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

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

Guidance on animal welfare during slaughter activities

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

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 - refer to - Inspection manual for graded poultry
• Inedible meat products - refer to MHMOP Chapter 6
• Poultry data collection forms - refer to MHMOP Chapter 19 Annex A
• Poultry dispositions - refer to MHMOP 19.7
• Process controls - refer to MHMOP Chapter 17 Annex B, MHMOP Chapter 17 Annex C and MHMOP 19.6
• Refrigeration of carcasses and carcass parts (for red meat) - refer to MHMOP 17.11

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.