POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE  g S.L.36.38 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 36.38
POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE REGULATIONS
1st July, 1995;
1st July, 1998.
LEGAL NOTICE 93 of 1995.
Title.
Regulations.
Interpretation. 
requires-
"assistant staff" means trained persons officially designated by
the Director;
"approved slaughterhouse" means a slaughterhouse which
complies with these Regulations and which has been inspected and
approved by the Director;
"licensee" means a person who is licensed in terms of regulation
3 of these Regulations to keep a poultry slaughterhouse;
"Director" means the Director responsible for veterinary
services;
"offal" means fresh meat other than that of carcass as herein
defined;
"viscera" means offal from thoracic, abdominal and pelvic
cavities, including trachea, oesophagus and crop;
"drinking water" means water which is of such quality as to be fit
for human consumption; 
"carcass" means the whole body of a fowl after bleeding,
plucking and evisceration; however the removal of kidneys, legs at
the tarsus or of the head shall be optional;
"fresh poultry meat" means all parts of the animal which are fit
for human consumption and which have not undergone any
preserving process other than chilling or freezing;
"poultry" means fowl, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea fowls,
domestic and racing pigeons, quails, pheasants and partridges;
" ante-mortem  health inspection" means the inspection of live
poultry by an official veterinarian within one hour prior to
slaughter;
" post-mortem  health inspection" means the inspection of
slaughtered poultry in the slaughterhouse immediately after
slaughter in accordance with current regulations;
"official veterinarian" means the veterinarian appointed by the
Director.
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Licence to keep a 
poultry 
slaughterhouse.
3. (1) No person shall keep a poultry slaughterhouse whether
as owner, part owner or helper unless he holds a licence issued to
him by the Director.
(2) No premises shall be used as a poultry slaughterhouse
unless such premises are licensed by the Director to be used as
such.
(3) The Director may only grant a licence for the keeping of a
poultry slaughterhouse after considering an application therefor,
and after he has ascertained that all the requirements listed in these
Regulations and any further requirements he may have requested
the applicant to perform, have been satisfied.
(4) The licensee shall be responsible for the running of the
poultry slaughterhouse according to these Regulations and the
Director may at any time revoke a licence if it is found lacking in
any of the conditions mentioned in the licence, or if in the opinion
of the Director there is a risk of spread of disease.
(5) Licences shall be valid for one calendar year and may be
renewed from year to year after inspection by an official
veterinarian.
(6) The official veterinarian, or any health inspector appointed
by the Director, shall have the power of entry to inspect the poultry
slaughterhouse whenever the Director deems it necessary.
(7) No extensions or alterations in any poultry slaughterhouse
may be carried out unless previously authorised by the Director.
(8) The Director shall keep a poultry slaughterhouse register in
which there shall be kept the following information:
(i) veterinary approval number;
(ii) name, address and telephone number of licensee;
(iii) name, address and telephone number of the
manager; 
(iv) address and telephone number of the poultry
slaughterhouse;
(v) site-plan, elevation plan, building layout plan
and equipment layout plan of the poultry
slaughterhouse.
(9) The licensee shall be responsible for any premises used in
the poultry slaughterhouse and such premises shall be either
constructed or removed as specified in these Regulations.
Site of 
slaughterhouse.
4. The poultry slaughterhouse shall be at least two hundred
metres away from inhabited areas, livestock farms and any
industrial or other structures that may emit fumes or other materials
that may contaminate poultry meat. Any existing poultry
slaughterhouses that do not comply with this condition shall be
allowed to operate; however if such a slaughterhouse ceases to
operate for a continuous period of six months or more its licence
shall not be renewed.
Areas within 
slaughterhouse.
5. (1) A poultry slaughterhouse shall be surrounded by a
security fence or wall and gates to control traffic. The area within
POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE  g S.L.36.38 3
the boundary wall shall be kept free from rodents and other
animals.
(2) The poultry slaughterhouse shall be divided into a dirty
area and a clean area.
(3) Transport and unloading of live poultry, collection and
elimination of any waste products shall be carried out in the dirty
area.
(4) All slaughtering procedures, storing, loading and transport
of poultry meat shall be carried out in the clean area. 
(5) No vehicles shall be allowed into the clean area unless
previously cleaned and disinfected.
Building 
requirements.
6. Poultry slaughterhouses must have:
( a ) a room or covered space which is sufficiently large and
easy to cleanse and disinfect, for the  ante-mortem
inspection of poultry;
( b ) a special room which is easy to cleanse and disinfect,
exclusively for poultry suffering from, or suspected to
be suffering from, disease;
( c ) a slaughter room large enough for stunning and
bleeding on the one hand, and plucking and any
scalding on the other, to be carried out in separate
places: 
Provided that any communication between the
slaughter room and the room referred to in paragraph
( a ) above, other than a narrow opening through which
only slaughtered poultry may pass, must have an
automatically closing door;
( d ) an evisceration and preparation room which is large
enough for evisceration to be carried out in a place
sufficiently far away from the other work stations, or
separated from them by a partition, so as to prevent
contamination. Any communication between the
evisceration and preparation room and the slaughter
room, other than the narrow opening through which
only slaughtered poultry may pass, must have an
automatically closing door;
( e ) a dispatching room, if necessary;
( f ) one room or more sufficiently large fur chilling and/or
refrigeration;
( g ) cold stores. Where cold stores are situated outside the
slaughterhouse they must be licensed and shall be
supervised by an official veterinarian. The Director
shall be responsible for approving these stores and for
withdrawing the approval. The cold stores shall be
equipped with a thermograph sealed by the Director or
officials delegated by him. The premises shall be
subject to inspection at any time without notice by the
Superintendent of Public Health or by an authorised
officer on his behalf;
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( h ) a room or space for collecting of feathers unless these
are treated as waste;
( i ) lockable premises, situated separately from the other
rooms in the processing area, which are temperature
controlled and reserved for the separate storage of
poultry meat which has been temporarily detained and
of unhealthy meat declared unfit for human
consumption and waste, where such meat and waste is
not removed each day from the slaughterhouse;
( j ) a room which is temperature controlled and situated
separately from the other rooms in the processing area,
exclusively for the technical treatment or destruction
of poultry meat declared unfit for human consumption,
meat which is excluded from use for human
consumption and waste and by-products from
slaughter, intended for industrial purposes, if such
technical treatment or destruction is carried out on the
premises;
( k ) changing rooms, wash basins, showers and flush
lavatories; the latter shall not open directly onto the
work rooms; the wash basins shall be near the
lavatories and shall have hot and cold running water,
materials for cleansing and disinfecting the hands, and
disposable hand towels;
( l ) a facility or arrangement to be approved by the
Director, for the disposal of dung unless dung is
immediately and hygienically removed;
( m ) a place and adequate facilities for cleansing and
disinfecting of cages and vehicles;
( n ) an adequately equipped, lockable room for the
exclusive use of the veterinary services;
( o ) in the work rooms, adequate equipment for the
cleansing and disinfecting of hands and tools; such
equipment must be as near as possible to the work
stations and taps must not be hand operable; these
facilities must have hot and cold running water,
cleaning and disinfecting products and disposable
hand towels; for cleansing instruments the temperature
of the water must be of not less than 82 degrees
Celsius;
( p ) facilities enabling the veterinary inspections provided
for in these Regulations to be carried out efficiently at
any time;
( q ) an adequate surrounding wall or other means of
enclosure;
( r ) without prejudice to paragraphs ( a ), ( b ), ( c ) and ( d )
above, adequate separation of the clean area from the
contaminated parts of the building;
( s ) in the rooms mentioned in paragraphs ( a ) to ( i ) above:
-  waterproof flooring, which is easy to cleanse
POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE  g S.L.36.38 5
and disinfect, and so constructed that water can
drain away easily;
- smooth walls with light coloured washable
coating or paint at a height of at least two
metres, with rounded edges and corners;
( t ) adequate natural or artificial lighting which does not
distort colours in the rooms set aside for live or
slaughtered poultry;
( u ) an adequate supply of hot and cold drinking water
under pressure and a water disposal system which
meets hygienic requirements;
( v ) proper equipment for protection against pests such as
insects and rodents;
( w ) instruments and any equipment that comes into
contract with poultry during processing and storage
which are made of non-corrodible material and are
easy to cleanse and disinfect;
( x ) special air-tight and water-tight non-corrodible
containers which cannot be forced open, for collecting
meat which has been declared unfit for human
consumption.
Cleanliness.
equipment and instruments, as follows:
( a ) staff must in particular wear clean working clothes and
headgear which are of a light colour and easily
washable. Staff who slaughter animals and work on
and handle meat shall wash and disinfect their hands
several times during each working day and each time
they resume work. Persons who have been in contact
with sick animals or infected meat must immediately
afterwards carefully wash their hands and arms in hot
water and then disinfect them. Smoking shall be
forbidden in work rooms and storerooms;
( b ) no dogs, cats or animals other than the poultry
intended for slaughter may enter slaughterhouses.
Rodents, insects and vermin shall be systematically
destroyed;
( c ) the rooms mentioned in paragraphs ( a ), ( b ), ( c ), ( d )
and ( e ) of regulation 6 must be cleansed and
disinfected as necessary and at all events at the end of
the day’s work;
( d ) cages for delivering poultry must be made of non-
corrodible material, be easy to clean and disinfect and
have waterproof floors. They must be cleaned and
disinfected each time they are emptied;
( e ) equipment and instruments used for slaughtering,
working on and the storing of meat must be kept clean
and in a good state of repair. They must be carefully
cleaned and disinfected several times during each
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working day, at the end of the day’s work and before
being used again if they have been contaminated;
( f ) containers for unhealthy meat unfit for human
consumption and for offal shall be emptied after use
and cleansed and disinfected each time they are
emptied.
Further 
requirements.
8. The following requirements shall be further observed by
the licensee: 
( a ) Premises, instruments, working equipment and plant
used for slaughtering work and storing meat must be
used solely for these purposes.
( b ) Poultry meat and containers thereof must not come
into direct contact with the ground.
( c ) Feathers must be taken away immediately after
plucking.
( d ) The use of disinfectants, detergents and pesticides
must not affect the fitness of the meat for
consumption.
( e ) Persons who may contaminate meat shall be prohibited
from slaughtering or handling it, in particular if such
persons are:
-  suffering from or suspected of suffering from
typhoid fever, paratyphoid A and B,
salmonellosis, dysentery, hepatitis, gastro-
enteritis, scarlet fever or carriers of these
diseases;
- suffering or suspected of suffering from a
contagious or infectious skin disease;
- exercising at the same time an activity which
might cause microbes to be transmitted to meat;
- wearing a bandage on the hands, other than a
water-proof dressing protecting a non-infected
wound.
(f) A medical certificate shall be required from every
person working on poultry meat, attesting that there is
no impediment to such employment; the certificate
must be renewed annually and whenever requested by
the official veterinarian; it shall always be available to
the latter.
The licensee shall ensure that all employees in
his establishment shall be educated on the importance
of personal hygiene and basic food safety principles.
The licensee shall also be responsible for maintaining
amongst his employees an awareness of any possible
medical condition that may develop which might affect
their employment.
(g) Poultry for slaughter must undergo  ante-mortem
inspection within twenty-four hours of arrival at the
slaughterhouse. The inspection must be repeated
POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE  g S.L.36.38 7
immediately before slaughter if more than twenty-four
hours have elapsed since the  ante-mortem  inspection.
The  ante-mortem  inspection may be restricted to
detecting injuries received during transport if the
poultry has been inspected at the farm of origin within
the last twenty-four hours and found to be healthy. In
addition, the identity of the poultry must be proved on
arrival at the slaughterhouse.
( h ) The  ante-mortem  inspection must be carried out under
suitable lighting and must determine:
- whether the poultry is suffering from a disease
which can be transmitted to humans or animals,
whether it shows symptoms, or whether its
general condition is such as to indicate that the
disease may occur;
-  whether it shows symptoms of a disorder
affecting its general condition which may make
the meat unfit for human consumption.
( i ) Poultry suffering from fowl plague, Newcastle disease,
rabies, salmonellosis, cholera or ornithosis shall be
declared unfit for human consumption.
( j ) Poultry may not be slaughtered for human
consumption as fresh meat where -
- from the presence of sick poultry in the
slaughterhouse,
-  and from health information relating to their
origin,
it is established that they have been in contact with
birds suffering from fowl plague, Newcastle disease,
rabies, salmonellosis, cholera or ornithosis in such
circumstances that the disease might have been
transmitted to them.
( k ) The poultry referred to in paragraphs ( h ), ( i ) or ( j )
above must be slaughtered separately and after the
slaughter of all other poultry.
( l ) Poultry brought into slaughter premises must be
slaughtered immediately after stunning.
( m ) Bleeding must be complete and carried out in such a
way that the blood cannot cause contamination outside
the place of slaughter.
( n ) Slaughtered poultry must be plucked immediately and
completely.
( o ) Evisceration must be carried out immediately. The
carcass must be opened in such a way that the cavities
and all the viscera can be inspected. For this purpose
the liver, spleen and digestive tract must be extruded
from the carcass in such a way that it is not
contaminated and that the natural connections of those
viscera remain until inspection.
8 g S.L.36.38 POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE 
( p ) After inspection the viscera which have been removed
must be separated immediately from the carcass, and
the parts unfit far human consumption removed at
once. Viscera and parts of viscera remaining in the
carcass must, with the exception of the kidneys, be
removed entirely, if possible under satisfactory
hygienic conditions.
( q ) It is forbidden to inflate poultry meat, cleanse it with
cloth or fill the carcass with anything other than edible
offal from poultry slaughtered in the slaughterhouse.
Parts of poultry and offal must be packed in the
manner described in paragraphs ( y ) and ( z ) of this
regulation.
( r ) It is forbidden to cut the carcass or remove or treat the
poultry meat before the inspection has been
completed. The official veterinarian may prescribe any
other handling required by the inspection. 
( s ) Detained meat declared unfit for human consumption,
feathers and waste must be removed as soon as
possible to the rooms, spaces or containers provided
for in paragraphs ( h ), ( i ) and ( j ) of regulation 6 and
must be so handled that contamination is kept to a
minimum.
( t ) After inspection and evisceration fresh poultry meat
must be immediately cleaned and chilled in such a
manner as to ensure that a continuous high level of
hygiene is maintained.
( u ) All parts of the animal must be inspected immediately
after slaughter.  Post-mortem  inspection must be
carried out under suitable lighting.
( v ) The health markings must be made under the
responsibility of the official veterinarian, who shall
keep and maintain for that purpose:
-  instruments for making the health marking on
meat, to be handed to the assistant staff only at
the actual time of marking and for the length of
time necessary for this purpose; 
-  labels and wrappers where these already bear the
stamp or mark provided for in paragraph ( w )
below and the seals referred to in paragraph ( w )
below. These labels, wrappers and seals shall be
handed over in the required number to the
assistant staff at the time when they must be
used.
( w ) The health marking shall consist of the following:
(i) the seal must be such that it cannot be re-used; it
must be of resistant material meeting all
hygienic requirements and large enough for the
following compulsory information to appear on
it in perfectly legible characters:
POULTRY SLAUGHTERHOUSE  g S.L.36.38 9
-  in the centre, the veterinary approval number
of the slaughterhouse,
-  date of slaughter or batch number that
indicates such a date.
The letters and figures must be at least two
millimetres high; 
(ii) for packed carcasses and parts of carcasses, a
mark stamped on the wrapper, which is closed in
such a way that it cannot be re-used after
opening. The wrapper must be of sufficiently
strong material which meets all hygienic
requirements, which is transparent and cannot
transmit to the meat substances which may alter
the nature, substance or quality of the food or
which are harmful to human health; the mark
must give the same information as that required
for the seal and be printed in characters of the
same size;
(iii) for the offal not contained in the carcass, a mark
stamped on the wrapper which must be closed,
as described under sub-paragraph (ii) above or a
stamp impressed on a label which is clearly
visible and firmly fixed to the packaging. The
label must be attached in such a way that it is
destroyed when the packaging is opened. The
stamp must be an oval ink stamp six point five
centimetres wide and four point five centimetres
high. The following information must appear on
it in perfectly legible characters:
- veterinary approval number of the
slaughterhouse;
- batch number.
The letters must be point eight centimetres high
and the figures one point one centimetres high.
( x ) After the chilling provided for in paragraph ( t ), fresh
poultry meat must be kept at a temperature that must
not at any time exceed + 4 degrees Celsius.
( y ) Packaging (e.g. packing cases, paperboard boxes) must
meet all hygienic requirements, in particular:
-  they may not affect the oganoleptic character of
the meat; 
- they may not transmit to the meat substances
which are harmful to human health;
-  they must be strong enough to protect the meat
adequately during transport and handling.
Packing may only be re-used for meat when they are
made of non-corrodible material which is easy to
cleanse and has first bean cleaned and disinfected.
( z ) When fresh meat is packed in a packing material (e.g.
plastic sheet) which is in direct contact with it, this
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must be done in accordance with hygienic
requirements. Such packing must be transparent,
colourless and meet the requirements of paragraph ( y )
above; they may rot be re-used for packing meat. Parts
of poultry or offal separated from the carcass must
always be wrapped in a firmly sealed, protective cover
satisfying the above criteria.
Transportation of 
meat.
9. (1) Fresh poultry meat must be transported in vehicles and/
or containers designed, equipped and maintained in such a manner
that the temperature specified in paragraph ( x ) of regulation 8 is
ensured throughout transportation. The person responsible for this
transportation is to ensure that the temperature is maintained below
+ 4 degrees Celsius.
(2) The vehicles and container used for the transportation of
fresh poultry meat may not be used for any other purpose and are to
be kept in a state of hygiene which prevents contamination of the
food by odour or otherwise. After unloading of these products,
vehicles and containers must be thoroughly cleansed, disinfected
and, where necessary, deodorised.
(3) Fresh poultry meat may only be transported at the same
time as substances likely to affect it or give it a smell if appropriate
precautions are taken.
(4) Fresh poultry meat may not be transported in vehicles and/
or containers which or not clean and disinfected.
(5) The official veterinarian shall ensure before loading that the
transport vehicles and/or the containers, besides the loading
conditions, comply with the hygienic requirements of these
Regulations.
