Final Report of an Audit Conducted in the People's Republic of China to Evaluate Poultry Meat Inspection System and Establishments Producing Stuffed Grain Products
3 Ante-Mortem, Humane Handling and Animal Welfare Controls
The two slaughter establishments audited are owned and operated by their respective parent company. These establishments are parts of an export-oriented system (EOS) called the "Unification Five" in Chinese, where the parent company controls the breeders' farms, the broilers farms, the feed mills, the slaughter establishments and the processing establishments. Only birds originating from the identified and registered farms are allowed to be slaughtered in the poultry slaughter establishments.
3.1 Traceability and Animal Identification
In the poultry meat inspection system, the MOA veterinarians perform two ante-mortem inspections: one at the farm and one at the slaughter establishment. The Animal Epidemic Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China ensures that animals and animal products to be sold or transported are allowed to leave the places of origin only after they have passed official veterinary quarantine by local county-level animal health supervision authorities and the Animal Quarantine Conformity Certificate has been obtained. This certificate is valid for 24 hours within the province.
The groups of poultry are raised, fed and receive the same treatments and shipped to slaughter establishment from approved, identified farms. The MOA veterinarian at the farm supervises the apposition of a seal after the ante-mortem inspection. The seal is inviolable and have an individual identification code of 4 letters and 7 numbers indicating the location of the farm. The seal sequence is specific to the one MOA farm veterinarian and the colour of the seals changes during the year to prevent falsification. The purpose of the seal is to control any illegal unloading of birds during the transportation.
The Animal Quarantine Conformity Certificate included the following information as:
- Farm of origin (owner-address-contact number-identification number)
- Departure and destination location and address
- Quantity of birds delivered
- Identification and signature of the MOA official veterinarian
- End use of the birds (slaughter)
Both audited slaughter establishments identified the live bird receiving inspection as a Critical Control Point (CCP) in their HACCP plan. The criteria of this CCP include the verification of farm of origin, the Animal Quarantine Conformity Certificate, the birds monitoring records, the raising records and the verification of the medication withdrawal period. If the review of these documents shows non-compliance, the employee at the live receiving must communicate with MOA.
Conclusion:
The control over the identification of the birds was found to be delivered as described in The Animal Epidemic Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China.
3.2 Ante-mortem Inspection
According to the Administrative Measures for Animal Quarantine, Article 22, the official veterinarians should check the Animal Quarantine Conformity Certificate and livestock/poultry signs relevant to animals to be slaughtered, inspect their health condition, and isolate those suspected of suffering from epidemics for observation. The ante-mortem inspection is performed at the slaughter establishment by another MOA official veterinarian at each arrival of a truck with birds. The ante-mortem inspection includes:
- The condition of the birds (physical and mental).
- Number of birds/cage
- Presence of notifiable diseases (e.g.: avian influenza)
- Presence of the seal
- The estimated of number of dead on arrival (DOA).
- The condition of the premises, cages and truck.
- The documents accompanying the birds (e.g.: Animal Quarantine Conformity Certificate Animal, the raising documents- veterinary drugs treatments).
If the operator and MOA inspection is compliant and the birds are accompanied by documents, the seal is removed and the slaughtering of the birds is approved by the MOA. If the inspection reveals non-compliance (no/incomplete accompanying documents, epidemics, pesticide & veterinary drug), the MOA disapproves the slaughtering of the birds, initiates an investigation and informs the operator about the situation.
In accordance with the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China, Regulation on Emergency Response to Major Animal Epidemics, Administrative Measures for Reporting of Animal Epidemics and Procedure for Safe Biological Disposal of Diseased Animals and Their Products (GB16548), if the inspection reveals the presence of notifiable diseases and high DOA, the MOA official veterinarian initiates the segregation of the suspect birds, informs senior management and conducts sampling for laboratory analysis.
Conclusion:
The ante-mortem inspection was completed as described in the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China.
3.3 Humane Handling and Animal Welfare Controls
The MOA official veterinarian is responsible for verifying the humane handling and the animal welfare control at the ante-mortem inspection according to the Good Manufacturing Practices (GB/T 20575-2006). The cleaning and disinfection of the vehicles transporting the animals is monitored. Animals suffering from any disease or defect that may affect public health are separated from other animals.
The DOA level is verified according to the GMP procedure of the operator. For example, the limit of the DOA in the GMP is 0.5%, and if the rate is higher, then the correctives actions have to be implemented. If the condition of transportation is determined as non-compliant, the MOA official informs the operator, and the MOA veterinarian at the farm has to analyse the root causes. If long delays between the arrival of the birds and the slaughter operations are observed, the birds are re-oriented to another slaughtering facility.
The effectiveness of the stunning is verified by MOA officials at the minimal frequency of once per day. The MOA officials visually verify the stunned birds (sign of any recovery of the sensibility). The verification of the control panel indicating the amperage and the voltage is completed by MOA officials. The voltage verified varied between 35 and 80 Volts during this audit.
Conclusion:
Birds were subject to an appropriate humane handling and stunning before slaughtering, as described in China Specification of Good Manufacturing Practices for Chicken Slaughtering GB/T 19478-2004 and GB/T 20575-2006.
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