GB 12694-2016National food safety standard - Hygienic specifications for slaughtering and processing of livestock and poultry (English PDF)

3.1 General requirements

As specified in Chapter 3 of GB 14881-2013.

3.2 Site selection

3.2.1 The sanitary protection distance shall be as specified in GB 18078 and the animal epidemic prevention requirements.

3.3 Plant environment

3.3.1 The main roads in the plant areas shall be hardened (e.g. concrete or bituminous pavement); the roads shall be flat which shall be convenient for washing without accumulating water.

3.3.2 The plant areas shall be provided with wastes, garbage temporary storage or processing facilities; the wastes shall be cleared and processed on a timely basis, in order to prevent pollution to the plant environment. The waste equipment and other debris shall not be piled up in the plant areas.

4.1 Design and layout

4.1.1 The plant areas shall be divided into production and area and non-production area. The transportation of live livestock and poultry and the delivery of finished products shall not share the same gate, nor share the same channel within a slaughter house.

4.1.4 The slaughter houses shall provide waiting circle (area), isolation workshop, emergency slaughtering workshop, laboratory, official veterinarian workshop, chemical storage workshop and innocent treatment workshop. The plant area of the slaughter houses shall provide special areas for the cleaning and sterilization of livestock and poultry as well as product transportation vehicles and tools.

4.1.5 The slaughter houses without an innocent treatment workshop shall resort to a competent professional innocent treatment plant to carry out innocent treatment.

4.2 Building internal structures and materials

As specified in 4.2 of GB 14881-2013.

4.3 Workshop temperature control

4.3.1 The workshop temperature shall be controlled within the range specified in accordance with the product process requirements. The precooling temperature for the facilities shall be controlled at 0°C to 4°C; the temperature for the cutting workshops shall be controlled below 12°C;

4.3.2 The working procedures or sites which have requirements for temperature shall be equipped with temperature displaying devices to monitor the temperature, and humidometers if necessary. The thermometers and humidometers shall be calibrated at fixed times.

5.1 Water supply requirements

5.1.1 The production water supply for the slaughtering and cutting workshops shall be as specified in GB 5749; the enterprises shall control the quality of water supply.

5.2 Water drainage requirements

5.2.1 The floor of the slaughtering and cutting workshops shall not accumulate water;

the drainage water flows from the clean area to the non-clean area.

5.3 Cleaning and sterilization facilities

5.3.1 Cleaning and sterilization facilities for changing rooms and toilets

5.3.2 Cleaning and sterilization facilities for plants and workshops

5.3.2.1 The vehicle passageways in the plant area for transporting livestock and poultry shall be provided with a sterilization tank as wide as gates, more than 4 m long and 0.3 m deep;

5.4 Equipment and utensils

5.4.1 Production equipment shall be provided to match with the production capacity;

they shall be arranged in order in accordance with the process to prevent cross pollution.

5.4.2 Equipment, utensils and containers in contact with meat shall be made of materials that are non-toxic, tasteless, nonabsorbent, corrosion resistant and not easy to deform or fall off and can be cleaned and sterilized repeatedly and they will not react with meat, detergents and disinfectants under normal conditions and maintain intact;

bamboo and wood utensils or containers shall not be used.

5.5 Ventilation facilities

5.5.1 The workshops shall be provided with good ventilation devices to discharge polluted air and water vapour. The air flows in the direction from the clean area to the non-clean area.

5.6 Illumination facilities

5.6.1 The workshops shall be provided with appropriate natural light or artificial illumination. The lustrousness of illumination lamps shall not change the natural colours of the processed articles; the luminance shall meet the requirements for the work of the quarantine and inspection personnel and the production operators.

5.7 Storage facilities

5.7.1 The temperature of storage warehouses shall meet the specific requirements of the products to be stored.

5.7.2 The products shall be kept clean, tidy and well-ventilated in the storage warehouse. There shall be mould, rat and insect prevention measures.

5.8 Wastes storage and innocent treatment facilities

5.8.1 Wastes temporary storage facilities shall be provided at appropriate locations

far away from the workshops and the facilities shall be made of materials convenient for cleaning and sterilization;

5.8.2 The equipment for innocent treatment shall meet the relevant national laws, regulations and standards, and meet the requirements for innocent treatment.

6.1 Basic requirements

6.1.1 The enterprises shall have an inspection department which matches with the production capacity.

6.1.2 The measuring instruments, facilities and equipment for product processing, inspection and maintenance, and maintaining the operation of the food safety control system shall be verified as specified and calibrated before use.

6.2 Inspection before slaughtering

6.2.1 Livestock and poultry to be slaughtered shall be accompanied by an animal

quarantine certificate and provided with a satisfactory identification of livestock and poultry.

6.2.3 Livestock and poultry determined to be not appropriate for normal slaughter

shall be handled in accordance with relevant provisions.

6.2.4 Livestock and poultry shall be resting without feeding before slaughtering.

6.2.5 The information of inspection before slaughtering shall be feedbacked to feeding farms and inspectors after slaughtering on a timely basis and keep good records of inspection before slaughtering.

6.3 Inspection after slaughtering

6.3.1 Carry out inspection for the heads, hoofs (claws), carcasses and offals (body

cavities) in accordance with relevant national laws, regulations and standards after slaughtering.

6.3.4 The slaughtering workshop for pigs shall be provided with a trichina laboratory as well as testing facilities.

6.3.5 Those which need to be tested in a laboratory in accordance with national

provisions shall be sampled and tested in a laboratory.

6.4 Innocent treatment

6.4.1 Livestock and poultry and their tissues which are found in quarantine and inspection to have infectious diseases, parasitic diseases, toxic diseases or hazardous substance residue shall be transported with special vehicles in airtight containers;

6.4.2 Livestock and poultry and their tissues which are determined in other ways to be subjected to innocent treatment, shall be subjected to innocent treatment under the supervision of the official veterinarian.

6.4.3 The enterprises shall establish relevant protection measures to prevent hazards caused to the personnel during the process of innocent treatment and the product cross pollution and environmental pollution.

7.2 Provide inspection posts at appropriate locations to examine the hygienic

conditions of carcasses and products.

7.5 The utensils used for processing (such as containers for products and water pipes for cleaning) shall not be placed on the ground or in contact with dirty surfaces to prevent cross pollution; when the products fall to the ground, appropriate measures shall be taken to eliminate pollution.

7.7 The slaughtering workshops shall be provided with enough area and all operations shall be as specified. Different types of livestock and poultry shall not be slaughtered at the same time in the same slaughtering workshop.

8.1 Packaging

8.1.1 Packaging shall be as specified in 8.5 of GB 14881-2013.

8.1.2 Packaging materials shall be as specified in relevant standards, which shall

contain no toxic and hazardous substance and shall not change the sensory characteristics of meat.

8.1.3 Packaging materials for meats shall not be used repeatedly, unless they are of corrosion resistant materials easy to clean and that they are subjected to cleaning and sterilization before use.

8.1.4 Inner and outer packaging materials shall be stored separately; the packaging

material warehouses shall be kept dry, ventilated and clean.

8.1.5 The temperature of the product packaging workshops shall meet the specific requirements of products.

8.2 Storage and transportation

8.2.1 As specified in Chapter 10 of GB 14881-2013.

8.2.4 The refrigeration storage warehouses shall be defrosted at fixed times.

8.2.5 Meats shall be transported in special transportation facilities which shall not be used to transport livestock and poultry, livestock and poultry products requiring innocent treatment or other articles which may pollute meats.

8.2.6 Mixed transportation of packaged meat and non-packaged meat on the same

vehicle shall be avoided; if not avoidable, take physical isolation and protection measures.

9.1 Product tracing

Establish a complete traceability system to ensure that meats and their products can be traceable in case of any inacceptable food safety risk.

9.2 Product recalling

9.2.1 The enterprises slaughtering and processing livestock and poultry shall establish a recalling system in accordance with relevant laws and regulations;