WELLINGTON - Homekill butchers have been given until April 30 to register with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry under the Animal Products Act.
Those who do not list may leave themselves liable to the maximum $75,000 fine for providing homekill or recreational catch services without being listed.
Rural butchers raised an outcry in 1998 when ministry staff proposed to stop the off-farm butchery of farmers' homekill meat, which is a mainstay of many rural butchers.
The ministry initially wanted killing and processing of livestock to be done only on-farm in premises equipped with approved boning and refrigeration facilities.
Now the ministry wants homekill butchers, and other people providing services such as slaughter, dressing and processing animals for livestock owners, to register.
There are no listing criteria, but registration would help the ministry keep its finger on homekill butchers and others servicing recreational hunters so it can enforce the Animal Products Act.
Once listed, the only requirement for homekill and recreational butchers, other than dual-operator butchers, would be to keep basic inventory records.
Animal owners are allowed to slaughter and consume their own meat, but the "homekill" meat can be used only by the animal's owner, family or household and workers actively involved in the day-to-day running of the farm.
For homekill and recreational catch, the animal owner accepts any and all risks, because the product has not been processed through the regulated system and therefore has no assurances of food safety.
It remains an offence to trade or sell homekill meat.
Dual-operator butchers are those dealing in regulated meat and handling homekill on the same premises.
Those butchers will be required to have risk management programmes in place so they can provide greater food safety assurances.
They have a transitional period until October 31, 2002, to implement a risk management programme - with the ministry assisting by developing a model for risk management.
Each butcher's programme will need to be independently audited to demonstrate how the risks inherent in having homekill product and regulated product processed in the "dual" business will be managed.
They will also be required to demonstrate how homekill product will be prevented from entering the regulated trade and how any product they handle can be stopped from entering the export trade.
Meat hygiene officials have been touchy on this issue since legislative changes nearly two years ago gave suburban butchers free rein to send meat to Australia, by regarding it as an extension of the domestic market for New Zealand.
All other export markets require certificates and food-safety checks.
- NZPA
