UK Offence Report

The Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997

UK Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 2965 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
16 December 1997
In force from
17 December 1997
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Food, consumer protection, trading standards, product safety and age-restricted sales
Made under
Schedule 1 to, the Food Safety Act 1990

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations control specified risk material, being material which may contain the agent containing bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in respect of food. The Regulations continue in force provisions in respect of food up to now contained in the Specified Bovine Material Order 1997 and the Heads of Sheep and Goats Order 1996. The Regulations implement in part— a Commission Decision 94/474/EC (OJ No. L194, 29.7.94, p.96) concerning certain protection measures relating to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and repealing Decisions 89/469/EEC and 90/200/EEC; and b the provisions relating to animal waste of Council Directive 90/667/EEC (OJ No. L363, 27.12.90, p.51) laying down the veterinary rules for the disposal of animal waste, for its placing on the market and for the prevention of pathogens in feeding stuffs of animal or fish origin and amending Directive 90/425/EEC as read with Commission Decision 92/562/EEC (OJ No. L359, 9.12.92, p.23) and Commission Decision 94/382/EC (OJ No. L172, 7.7.94, p.25), which was amended by Commission Decision 95/29/EC (OJ No. L38, 18.2.95, p.17). The Regulations control the sale and use of specified risk material for human consumption (regulation 7) and the production of mechanically recovered meat (regulations 8 and 9). Provision is made for the initial treatment of specified risk material (regulations 10, 11 and 13) and the rendering of whole carcases (regulation 12). The Regulations prohibit the removal of the brain and eyes from a bovine animal (regulation 14) and prohibit the removal of the spinal cord from a ruminant animal (regulation 15). Regulations 16 to 19 provide particular requirements in relation to sheep and goats. These are the marking of young animals with a young lamb stamp, requirements as to the transport of unmarked carcases of sheep and goats, the presence of official veterinary surgeons, authorised officers, inspectors and meat technicians at slaughterhouses and the possession of unmarked carcases of sheep and goats. Regulation 20 prescribes the procedure for bringing in specified risk material from Northern Ireland. Regulation 21 regulates the consignment of specified risk material once it has been removed from the carcase and regulations 22 to 24 require the approval of collection centres, incinerators, rendering plants and other premises that process specified bovine material. Regulations 25 to 32 contain provisions on veterinary and laboratory premises, directions, transport, storage, offences and penalties, application of provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 for the purposes of the Regulations, enforcement, and savings of approvals granted in respect of food premises under the Specified Bovine Material Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/617). A Regulatory Appraisal for these Regulations has been prepared and placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Meat Hygiene Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

Offences created by this instrument

What Parliament said about it

Hansard was searched for this instrument by name and returned nothing. That is the ordinary outcome: an instrument laid under the negative procedure is usually never debated, and becomes law without a word said about it in either House.

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

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