Annex P-4 - Organoleptic Inspection for Frozen Boneless Beef Cooked in Tubes

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Sampling, Inspection Procedures and Disposition for Frozen Boneless Beef Cooked in Tubes from Countries Not Recognized Free of Food and Mouth Disease or Free With Vaccination - South America

1. Scope

This procedure applies to frozen boneless beef cooked in tubes, and frozen diced boneless beef meat cooked in tubes (diced after cooking) from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The procedure can be considered complete only if combined with Annexes O and P.

Full inspection is required of all shipments of meat products in this category. The inspection must be performed at establishments registered for the import inspection of this specific category of meat products, function code 9A. These establishments are located near Canadian seaports. The products may not be allowed inland before the full import inspection is completed and product accepted. Refer to the "List of Federally Registered Meat Establishments and their Licensed Operators" on the CFIA Web site.

1.1 Interpretation

Frozen boneless beef cooked in tubes: includes whole pieces or ground beef cooked in a sealed flexible cooking tube. The product is to be imported in these cooking tubes.

Frozen diced boneless beef cooked in tubes: The meat product is cooked in a sealed flexible cooking tube, removed from the tube, diced and imported in bulk shipping containers.

2. Sampling Plans

The Inspector shall select the required sample units using the sampling plan for the product examination found on the ICTS Import Inspection Report (IIR). If this plan has been found to be inappropriate for the type of product, determine the lot size, then calculate the square root of the quantity shipped (e.g. cartons, combos, etc.) This is the number of sample units to be inspected. The Inspector shall randomly select the sample unit numbers from the random table found in Annex H-2, of this Chapter.

Each import lot must be identified by a production lot code. Only one production lot code is permitted for each line of product on the import certificate. This separate identification must be maintained even in emergency situations when handwritten IIRs (CFIA/ACIA 1422) are generated. A sample shall be drawn from each production lot on the square root basis.

3. Preparation of Products for Inspection

Samples shall be selected from the staged lot following the cursory/visual inspection of the lot regardless of the cursory inspection results. The full inspection shall be completed before rejection of a lot.

In addition to the sample unit selection and handling procedures specified in Annex P the following procedures apply for this product category:

• The establishment shall remove sufficient random sub-sample units as determined by the Inspector from their shipping containers and present the sub-sample units on tables for inspection.
• The sub-sample units shall be displayed on the examination tables in such a manner that they retain their sample carton number identity.
• If defrosting in water the defrosting tank shall be drained and sanitized before it is used to thaw frozen cooked meat.

3.1 In the case of frozen boneless beef cooked in tubes and frozen boneless beef cooked in tubes (ground before cooking), a piece of approximately 7.5 cm should be cut out from the centre of each tube in the sample unit, in the frozen state. The remainder of the cut tubes are to be returned to the original cartons and kept frozen.

• Each sub-sample piece of 7.5 cm is to be completely thawed, by ambient air, on a separate white tray to identify the presence of pink juice.
• Alternatively, the sub-sample units protected individually by double plastic bags of sufficient thickness may be thawed in water provided the water temperature in the thawing tank shall be kept as low as possible to reduce the possibility of further cooking the samples. The water thawed products shall be examined by the Inspector on white trays.

3.2 In the case of individually quick frozen diced boneless beef cooked in tubes (diced after cooking)

A sub-sample representing 10% of the volume of the sample unit is to be defrosted completely thawed in a white tray so that any exudate from the meat product may be examined. If the 10% sub-sample cannot be removed in the frozen state, the entire sample unit may have to be tempered to allow removal of the sub-sample for full inspection.

4. Inspection Procedures

Check that the shipping container label correlates with the packaged meat product and the certificate. Please note that if the immediate package is not labelled, the shipping container must have been tamper proof sealed.

In the case of frozen diced boneless beef cooked in tubes (diced after cooking), each carton is to have a product batch code which must correspond to the batch code indicated for that product line on the certificate.

Verify that the product does not contain any bones or bone fragments. Presence of bone or bone fragments in this product is considered to increase the risk of introduction of Foot and Mouth Disease into the country.

A "pink juices" examination shall be performed on every sub-sample of cooked beef, to verify that the product has been thoroughly and completely cooked.

For frozen boneless beef cooked in tubes, after the centre section of the sub-sample unit has been completely thawed, the Inspector shall manually separate the pieces forming the sub sample. If the pieces are too large, an incision is to be made to determine the internal colour and to reduce the size of the piece. Small pieces shall be squeezed onto a white impermeable tray and checked for the presence of pink juices. The exudate collected in the white trays during defrosting shall be examined for colour.

For individually frozen diced boneless beef cooked in tubes, the pieces of the defrosted sub-sample are to be squeezed onto their corresponding white impermeable tray and checked for the presence of pink juices. The exudate collected in the white trays during defrosting shall be examined for colour.

The Inspector shall also thoroughly examine all sample units for defects other than the presence of pink juices and bone/bone fragments. The defects associated with this product category are similar to those in Annex F of Chapter 4, MOP. Veterinary advice must be sought with respect to defects which cannot be named or have not been encountered previously.

The defects shall be classified as minor, major, and critical and shall be recorded on the Meat Import worksheet in the appropriate blocks. Refer to Annex S of this Chapter.

All pieces of sub-samples with defects, other than the presence of pink juice, originating from a refused lot, should be placed in separate clean containers, be marked to identify them with the sampling unit, the lot they came from, and the IIR control number. These pieces of evidence should be stored frozen under the Inspector's control for at least five working days from the date of inspection and if no word of an appeal is given may be destroyed or ordered out of the country with the rejected lot. If there is an appeal which is not upheld the evidence should be retained for at least another 10 days after the first appeal decision has been delivered. Refer to Annex J of this Chapter.

5. Disposition/Decision Criteria

If pink juices are detected, the Inspector shall detain the imported lot immediately and notify the Area Import Operations Coordinator, who will immediately inform the Area Program Network for Meat Products to receive guidance on disposition of the non-compliant product.

If any bone or bone fragments are detected in the cooked meat, the Inspector shall detain the imported lot immediately and notify the Area Import Operations Coordinator, who will immediately inform the Area Program Networks for Meat Products to receive guidance on disposition of the non-compliant product.

To determine acceptability or rejection of the lot, for defects other than pink juices or bone fragments, the Inspector shall apply the boneless beef defect criteria as provided in Annex F, Chapter 4, MOP.

If the inspection results are satisfactory, the thawed sample should be immediately used in production, or if this is not possible, it should be treated as condemned material.

Refer to Annex J for procedures for handling of rejected imported lots.