Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SOR/2018-108)

Marginal note:Segregation and isolation

132 A licence holder must

• (a) segregate food animals of different species;

• (b) segregate a sick or injured food animal with other sick or injured food animals or isolate a sick or injured food animal if, because of its condition, it presents a risk to other food animals or it requires protection from other food animals; and

• (c) isolate a food animal that may cause suffering, injury or death to other food animals because of its nature, temperament, gender, weight, age or any other cause.

Marginal note:Overcrowding

133 A licence holder must provide a food animal with sufficient space to prevent the suffering of, injury to or death of the animal.

Marginal note:Ventilation

134 A licence holder must provide a food animal with sufficient ventilation to prevent the suffering of, injury to or death of the animal.

Marginal note:Handling

• 135 (1) A licence holder who handles a food animal, including by handling a crate containing a food animal, during any activity they conduct in the establishment, must

  • (a) be able to do so, by reason of the person’s competencies and qualifications for the activity, without causing avoidable suffering, injury or death to the food animal; and

  • (b) do so in a manner and under circumstances in which the equipment that is used will not cause avoidable suffering, injury or death to the food animal.

• Marginal note:Areas of establishment and equipment

  (2) A licence holder must, during any activity conducted by the licence holder, use only areas of an establishment and equipment for the handling of a food animal that are designed, constructed and maintained in such a manner that they will not cause avoidable suffering, injury or death to the food animal.

Marginal note:Water and feed

• 136 (1) A licence holder must provide a food animal — other than a food animal that is confined in a crate — that is unloaded from a conveyance at an establishment with

  • (a) water or another source of hydration as soon as it is unloaded; and

  • (b) feed, within 24 hours after it is unloaded.

• Marginal note:In crate

  (2) In the case of a food animal that is confined in a crate, the licence holder must provide the food animal with water or another source of hydration and with feed within 24 hours after it arrives at the establishment.

SUBDIVISION DRemoval and Keeping

Marginal note:Removal

• 137 (1) A licence holder must notify a veterinary inspector before a food animal is removed from an establishment.

• Marginal note:Keeping

  (2) A licence holder must notify a veterinary inspector before keeping a food animal in an establishment for more than seven days.

SUBDIVISION EAnte-mortem Examination and Inspection

Marginal note:Ante-mortem examination

• 138 (1) Within 24 hours before the slaughter of a food animal and in accordance with the document entitled Ante-mortem Examination and Presentation Procedures for Food Animals, prepared by the Agency and published on its website, as amended from time to time, a licence holder must conduct an ante-mortem examination of the food animal or of a sample from the shipment that the food animal is part of, which must include, in the case an equine or a bird other than one that is a game animal or an ostrich, a rhea or an emu, the examination of the documents referred to in subsection 165(1).

• Marginal note:Deviations

  (2) If the licence holder, in the course of the ante-mortem examination or at any other time before slaughter, suspects that the food animal shows a deviation from normal behaviour, physiology or appearance, the licence holder must hold it for an inspection by a veterinary inspector, unless otherwise authorized by a veterinary inspector.

Marginal note:Ante-mortem inspection

• 139 (1) Within 24 hours before the slaughter of a food animal other than a game animal and in accordance with the document entitled Ante-mortem Examination and Presentation Procedures for Food Animals, prepared by the Agency and published on its website, as amended from time to time, a licence holder must, for the purpose of an ante-mortem inspection, present the food animal or a sample from the shipment that the food animal is part of and, in the case an equine or a bird other than an ostrich, a rhea or an emu, the documents referred to in subsection 165(1) to a veterinary inspector or to an inspector under the supervision of a veterinary inspector.

• Marginal note:Deviations

  (2) If an inspector who is not a veterinary inspector suspects that the food animal shows a deviation from normal behaviour, physiology or appearance, the licence holder must hold it for an inspection by a veterinary inspector.

Marginal note:Condemnation

140 If a veterinary inspector, or an inspector under the supervision of a veterinary inspector, determines after an inspection that any meat product that would be derived from a food animal could not be identified as edible under section 125 and condemns the food animal, a licence holder must

• (a) identify the food animal as inedible;

• (b) segregate the food animal with other condemned food animals or isolate the food animal if, because of its condition, it presents a risk to other food animals or it requires protection from other food animals;

• (c) humanely kill the food animal; and

• (d) identify the carcass and any blood collected from the food animal as inedible.

SUBDIVISION FSlaughtering and Dressing

Marginal note:Requirement before bleeding

141 Before bleeding a food animal, other than a game animal, a licence holder must render it unconscious in a manner that prevents it from regaining consciousness before death or slaughter it by

• (a) delivering a blow to the head with a mechanical device in a manner that causes an immediate loss of consciousness;

• (b) applying an electrical current in a manner that causes an immediate loss of consciousness; or

• (c) exposing it to a gas or a gas mixture in a manner that causes a rapid loss of consciousness.

Marginal note:Requirement after bleeding starts

142 A licence holder must not cut the carcass of a food animal after bleeding has started if it shows signs of sensibility that may indicate a potential return to consciousness.

Marginal note:Requirement before suspending

• 143 (1) A licence holder must not suspend a food animal before it is rendered unconscious or slaughtered in accordance with section 141, before it is ritually slaughtered in accordance with section 144 or before it is humanely killed.

• Marginal note:Exception — certain birds

  (2) Despite subsection (1), a licence holder may suspend a bird, other than an ostrich, rhea or emu, by its legs immediately before it is rendered unconscious or slaughtered in accordance with section 141 or immediately before it is humanely killed.

Marginal note:Ritual slaughter

144 Despite section 141, a licence holder who ritually slaughters a food animal to comply with Judaic or Islamic law must

• (a) restrain the food animal;

• (b) administer one continuous, fluid cut with a knife, without the knife being lifted off the food animal, resulting in the rapid, simultaneous and complete severance of the jugular veins and carotid arteries, in a manner that causes the animal to bleed immediately; and

• (c) rapidly and completely bleed it, to render it unconscious in a manner that prevents it from regaining consciousness before death.

Marginal note:Dressing

• 145 (1) After a food animal is bled, a licence holder must dress the carcass by doing the following:

  • (a) in the case of the carcass of a pig,

    • (i) remove the hair, scurf, toenails and developed mammary glands or remove the skin, head, developed mammary glands and feet at the carpal and tarsal joints, and

    • (ii) eviscerate and split it;

  • (b) in the case of the carcass of a bird,

    • (i) remove the feathers and hair or remove the skin,

    • (ii) remove the head, uropygial gland and feet at the tarsal joints, and

    • (iii) eviscerate it;

  • (c) in the case of the carcass of a goat,

    • (i) remove the hair, head, toenails and developed mammary glands or remove the skin, head, developed mammary glands and feet at the carpal and tarsal joints, and

    • (ii) eviscerate it; and

  • (d) in the case of the carcass of any other food animal,

    • (i) remove the skin, head, developed mammary glands and feet at the carpal and tarsal joints,

    • (ii) eviscerate it, and

    • (iii) split it, except in the case of a sheep, calf or domesticated rabbit.

• Marginal note:Partial dressing

  (2) Despite subsection (1) and at the request of the licence holder, the Minister must authorize the licence holder to partially dress a carcass if

  • (a) the licence holder establishes that there is a market for partially dressed carcasses; and

  • (b) the licence holder’s procedure for partial dressing is such that the carcass is sufficiently dressed to enable a post-mortem examination or inspection.