Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1998/994 |
| Year | 1998 |
1998 No. 994
FOOD
The Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998
Made 6th April 1998
Laid before Parliament 8th April 1998
Coming into force 29th April 1998
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State respectively concerned with health in England and food and health in Wales acting jointly in relation to England and Wales, and the Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Scotland, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 6(4), 16(1), 17(1), 18(1)(c), 26(1)(b) and (3), 48(1) and 49(2) of, and paragraphs 2(2), 5(1) and (2), 6(1) and 7(1) of Schedule 1 to, the Food Safety Act 19901, and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State acting jointly, being Ministers designated2for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19723in relation to the common agricultural policy of the European Community, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by the said section 2(2), and in each case in exercise of all other powers respectively enabling them in that behalf, after consultation (so far as is required by section 48(4) of the Food Safety Act 1990) with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests likely to be substantially affected, hereby make the following Regulations—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 29th April 1998.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;
“approved import conditions for fishery products” means the conditions for the importation of fishery products which are laid down in any Commission Decision listed in Part I of Schedule 1;
“approved import conditions for live shellfish” means the conditions for the importation of live shellfish which are laid down in any Commission Decision listed in Part II of Schedule 1;
“approved relaying area” means a relaying area which, if situated (or treated as situated4) in part of Great Britain, is designated as a relaying area in accordance with regulation 3(2) by the food authority for that part of Great Britain;
“aquaculture products” means—
(a) all fishery products born and raised in controlled conditions until placed on the market as a foodstuff; and
(b) all seawater fish, freshwater fish or crustaceans caught in their natural environment when juvenile and kept until they reach the desired commercial size for human consumption, other than fish or crustaceans of commercial size caught in their natural environment and kept alive to be sold at a later date, if they are merely kept alive without any attempt being made to increase their size or weight;
“auction or wholesale market” means any premises where the display and sale by wholesale of fishery products, but no other activities associated with the production and placing on the market of fishery products, takes place;
“batch” means, with regard to—
(a) fishery products, a quantity of fishery products obtained under practically identical circumstances;
(b) live shellfish, a quantity of live shellfish collected from a production area and subsequently intended for delivery to an approved dispatch centre, purification centre, relaying area or processing plant;
“bivalve molluscs” means filter-feeding lamellibranch molluscs;
“chilling” means the process of cooling fishery products to a temperature approaching that of melting ice;
“clean seawater” means, with regard to the production of—
(a) fishery products for human consumption, seawater or briny water which is free from any microbiological contamination, harmful substances or toxic marine plankton in such quantities as may affect the health quality of fishery products, and which is used under the conditions laid down in these Regulations;
(b) live shellfish for human consumption, seawater or brackish water which is to be used under the conditions laid down in these Regulations and which is free from microbiological contamination and toxic and objectionable substances occurring naturally or after discharge in the environment such as those listed in the Annex to Council Directive 79/923/EEC5, in such quantities as may adversely affect the health quality of shellfish or impair their taste;
“conditioning” means the storage of live shellfish in tanks or any other installation containing clean seawater or in natural sites to remove sand, mud or slime;
“consignment”, except in the expression “private consignment”, means, with regard to—
(a) fishery products, a quantity of such products bound for one or more customers in the country of destination and conveyed at any one time by one means of transport only;
(b) live shellfish, a quantity of such shellfish handled in a dispatch centre or treated in a purification centre and subsequently intended for one or more customers;
“designated bivalve production area” means an area of seawaters or brackish waters designated by the Ministers in accordance with regulation 3(1) as an area from which live bivalve molluscs may be taken;
“dispatch centre” means any on-shore or off-shore installation for the reception, conditioning, washing, cleaning, grading and wrapping of live shellfish fit for human consumption;
“E. coli” means faecal coliforms which also form indole from tryptophan at 44°C plus or minus 0.2°C within 24 hours;
“establishment” means, with regard to the production of fishery products for human consumption, any premises where fishery products are prepared, processed, chilled, frozen, packaged or stored, other than—
(a) cold stores where only the handling of wrapped products takes place; or
(b) auction or wholesale markets where only display and sale by wholesale takes place;
“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 19926as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 19937;
“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;
“factory vessel” means any vessel on which fishery products undergo one or more of the following operations—filleting, slicing, skinning, mincing, freezing or processing—followed by packaging, but the following are not deemed to be factory vessels—
(a) fishing vessels in which only shrimps and molluscs are cooked on board; and
(b) fishing vessels on board which only freezing is carried out;
“faecal coliform” means facultative, aerobic, gram-negative, non-sporeforming, cy tochrome oxidase negative, rod-shaped bacteria that are able to ferment lactose with gas production in the presence of bile salts, or other surface active agents with similar growth-inhibiting properties, at 44°C plus or minus 0.2°C within 24 hours;
“fishery products” means—
(a) all seawater or freshwater animals, including their roes; and
(b) parts of such animals, except in circumstances where they—
(i) are combined (in whatever way) with other foodstuffs, and
(ii) comprise less than 10% of the total weight of the combined foodstuffs,
but excluding aquatic mammals, frogs and aquatic animals covered by Community acts other than the Fishery Products Directive, and parts of such mammals, frogs and aquatic animals;
“the Fishery Products Decisions” means the Commission Decisions listed in Part III of Schedule 1;
“the Fishery Products Directive” means Council Directive 91/493/EEC8of 22nd July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the production and placing on the market of fishery products, as adapted for the purposes of the EEA Agreement9and as amended10;
“the Fishing Vessels Directive” means Council Directive 92/48/EEC11of 16th June 1992 laying down the minimum hygiene rules applicable to fishery products caught on board certain vessels in accordance with article 3(1)(a)(i) of the Fishery Products Directive;
“food authority” means—
(a) with regard to England—
(i) as respects the Isles of Scilly, the Council of the Isles of Scilly,
(ii) as respects the City of London (including the Temples), the Common Council,
(iii) as respects any other part of England—
(aa) if it is situated in a port health district, the port health authority for that district, or
(bb) if it is not situated in a port health district, the London borough, district council or unitary authority in whose area that part is situated;
(b) as respects any part of Wales—
(i) if it is situated in a port health district, the port health authority for that district, or
(ii) if it is not situated in a port health district, the county or county borough council in whose area that part is situated;
(c) as respects any part of Scotland—
(i) if it is situated in the district of a port local authority or joint port local authority, the port local authority or joint port local authority for that district, or
(ii) if it is not situated in the district of a port local authority or joint port local authority, the council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 199412in whose area that part is situated;
“fresh products” means any fishery products whether whole or prepared, including products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere, which have not undergone any treatment to ensure preservation other than chilling;
“frozen products” means fishery products which have undergone a freezing process;
“gatherer” means any natural or legal person who collects live shellfish by any means from a production area for the purposes of handling and placing on the market;
“the Health Checks Decision” means Commission Decision 94/356/EC13of 20th May 1994 laying down detailed rules for the application of the Fishery Products Directive as regards own health checks on fishery products;
“healthmark” means a healthmark which (as the context requires) is in accordance with—
(a) Chapter X of...
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