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53
Certification of Certain Food Products for Export to the
Dominions.
In view of the requirements of the Food Laws in opera¬tion
in the Dominions, the system of certification for food
products which are derived from the flesh of cattle, sheep,
swine or goats, or from game or poultry, and are prepared
or packed in England and Wales for export to the
Dominions, has been continued.
The Certifying Officer—usually the Medical Officer of
Health—is required to keep himself informed, by personal
inquiry and in other available ways, as to:—
(1) The sanitary condition, structure and character of premises on
which the food products are prepared, stored or packed, with
special regard to the possibility of contamination of the food
products at any stage.
(2) The cleanliness and wholesomeness of the methods employed in
preparing, storing or packing the food products.
(3) The precautions taken to avoid the utilisation for food purposes
of diseased, unsound or unwholesome material in any portion of
the premises: and arrangements for the safe disposal of any
material which, on account of disease, unsoundness, unwholesomeness,
or for any other reason, is unfit for human food.
In the case of products derived from cattle, sheep, swine, or goats,
the Certifying Officer must also satisfy himself that the animals from
which the products are prepared have been subjected to an ante-mortem
and post-mortem veterinary inspection and found free from disease and
suitable for human food.
Where the products are prepared from animals slaughtered in the
United Kingdom, the Certifying Officer before certifying as to Veterinary
examination must be satisfied :—
(a) That the animals were subjected to veterinary examination ante-
mortem and post-mortem by an Officer of the Local Authority
for which he himself acts; or
(b) That the animals were slaughtered in a public abattoir under
official veterinary inspection;
or he must be furnished by the applicant with a declaration signed by a
qualified veterinary surgeon, appointed by the firm with the approval of
the Certifying Officer, to the effect that an ante-mortem and post
mortem examination was made by him and that the animals so examined
Were found free from disease.