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Operational guideline: Poultry - evisceration floor procedures other than post-mortem

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1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Inspection Staff on verifying industry compliance to section 125(1) of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations while conducting inspection duties on the evisceration floor in a poultry slaughter establishment.

This document is intended to be used in conjunction with other guidance documents as referenced in Section 3.0.

2.0 Authorities

3.0 Reference documents

4.0 Definitions

Unless specified below, the definitions are located in the:

5.0 Acronyms

Acronyms are spelled out the first time they are used in this document and are consolidated in the Food business line acronyms list.

6.0 Operational Guideline

For verifying compliance to the SFCA / SFCR, a CFIA inspector/ veterinary inspector has the power to examine things and documents related to the dressing procedures that take place on the evisceration floor.

This guideline provides information on the inspection activities a CFIA (veterinary) inspector will carry out in relation to the following evisceration floor activities:

  1. Online and Offline Reprocessing and Reconditioning

6.1 Online and Offline Reprocessing and Reconditioning

Refer to the Industry Guidance - Poultry Off-line and On-line Reprocessing and Reconditioning Procedures for mandatory requirements and non-mandatory best practices that apply to the operator for online and offline reprocessing and reconditioning.

CFIA inspection activities in relation to reprocessing and reconditioning are as follows:

  1. Verification of validation and revalidation documents
    (Under development)
  2. Ongoing observations during evisceration floor activities
    • While carrying out activities / observations on the evisceration floor, CFIA (veterinary) inspector will observe the online and offline reprocessing and reconditioning. The goal will be to determine if a more detailed inspection (e.g. performing a CVS task) is required. The observation may focus on the facility, the equipment, the sanitary practices or the carcasses. If a more detailed inspection is required, please follow CVS task procedure for unscheduled verification findings (stumble-ons) and / or organoleptic test procedure (refer to the following subsections).
  3. CVS tasks
    • Perform CVS task for online and offline reprocessing and reconditioning as per CVS task procedures. This includes scheduled, unscheduled and triggered CVS tasks. It is important to note that ongoing observation of reprocessing and reconditioning could trigger CVS task not only for online or offline reprocessing and reconditioning but also for sanitation, equipment, lighting, employee training etc.
  4. Organoleptic test
    • When performing detailed observations or a CVS task for implementation of offline and online reprocessing and reconditioning (scheduled, unscheduled or triggered), a CFIA (veterinary) inspector may perform an organoleptic test. During this test, the CFIA employee will observe the carcasses for reprocessing and reconditioning defects by performing an independent test or a correlation test. The minimum frequency to meet domestic requirement can be found in section 8 of Industry Guidance - Poultry Off-line and On-line Reprocessing and Reconditioning Procedures.
    • An independent test is conducted by the CFIA employee without an operator employee while the correlation test is conducted with the operator employee. The latter is preferred. When performing a correlation test, examine the same carcasses at the same time as the operator employee performing a monitoring test and verify operator employee’s correct interpretation of defects, completion of forms and implementation of corrective actions if necessary in addition to verifying if the test failed for any of the defects.
    • The organoleptic test for online reprocessing and reconditioning will be performed using the Carcass Dressing Standards (CDS) test (refer to Industry Guidance – Modernized Poultry Inspection Program and Operational Guidance - Modernized Poultry Inspection Program). The organoleptic test for offline reprocessing and reconditioning may be the CDS test (if the reprocessing and reconditioning carcasses are placed online prior to the CDS location) or an International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-based test (refer to ISO test described in Industry Guidance - Poultry Off-line and On-line Reprocessing and Reconditioning Procedures). Note: only the cavity defects of CDS are used to verify compliance with the reprocessing and reconditioning requirements.
  5. Record review

    In addition to record review for completion and accuracy when performing a CVS task:

    • The CFIA must also verify that the operator is retaining reprocessing and reconditioning documents for a period stated in SFCR 89(2) and record it in the CVS task.
    • Regularly verify that, when CDS is the organoleptic test used by the operator, the corrective actions for failure of CDS for cavity defects includes review of the online and offline reprocessing and reconditioning.
  6. CFIA records
    • CFIA will maintain its separate log of the independent / correlation organoleptic tests. This will help the CFIA meet the record retention requirements and easily demonstrate CFIA testing and results to internal and external auditors. Refer to sections below for the reprocessing and reconditioning forms to be used and record retention period.

6.2 CFIA actions for non-compliances identified during verification activities

Refer to CFIA's Compliance Verification System (CVS) policy on non-compliances found during completion of scheduled CVS tasks, unscheduled verification findings (stumble on) and triggered CVS tasks.

6.3 CFIA poultry Reprocessing and Reconditioning forms

  1. Offline Reprocessing and Reconditioning form: Refer to Industry Guidance - Poultry Off-line and On-line Reprocessing and Reconditioning Procedures

For consistency, only use the forms in the guidance documents above.

6.4 Record Retention

Retain the completed records, other than CVS records, for ten years from the date the record was generated.

Retain the CVS records as per CVS policy.

For general inquiries related to this Operational Guidance Document, please follow established communication channels, including submitting an electronic Request for Action Form (e-RAF).

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