Meat Notice 13-03 - Use of Temporary Holding Facilities for Stock

​NSFS Ref 20

Issue Date: 23.05.2013 

Contact Officers:

Christine Coulson
 Product Integrity
Export Meat Program
Ph 02 6272 4167
Email: Christine Coulson

Dugald MacLachlan
Director, Residues and Microbiology Policy Standards Branch
Food Exports
Ph: 02 6272 3183
Email: Dugald MacLachlan

Date of Effect: 23.05.2013 to TBA

Date of Expiry: TBA

1. Purpose

To remind export registered meat establishments of their obligations regarding traceability of livestock and the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) under state and territory legislation.

2. Scope

This Notice applies to all export registered establishments that slaughter cattle, goats and sheep.

3. Background

Recent audits have noted that that in some cases the National Vendor Declaration (NVD) and NLIS database records on hand at the slaughter establishment did not accurately reflect the physical movement of livestock from remote holding paddocks to the establishment.

The key principle underpinning Australia’s NLIS is that whenever livestock move from one location with a Property Identification Code (PIC) to a location with a different PIC then that movement is recorded in the NLIS Database and is supported by a NVD or waybill.

In a recent case auditors found that mobs of sheep that had been consigned to abattoirs from saleyards or properties on the original vendor’s NVD or waybill were initially delivered to a temporary holding facility remote from the slaughter establishment, before being sent to the slaughter establishment.  There was no record of the movement between the remote holding paddock and the slaughter establishment on the NLIS database, nor were the livestock accompanied by a NVD or waybill that covered that movement. This is a breach of the state stock regulations and the NLIS rules.

4. Methods

To address this breach a document reinforcing these existing requirements has been produced and has already been circulated to industry by SAFEMEAT. A copy of that document is attached (Appendix 1) and reminds producers and processors of their obligations when moving stock from one property to another.

5. Actions and Responsibilities

5.1 Establishment Management

• Comply with state stock regulations and NLIS rules, including those details in Appendix 1.
• Review the establishment Approved Arrangement (AA) to ensure that the procedures for checking NVDs and receiving stock complies with the requirements of the state stock regulations and NLIS rules including the details in Appendix 1.
• Prepare any necessary amendments to the AA and present them to DAFF for approval.

5.2 DAFF On-Plant Supervisors

• Review any AA amendments and recommend to Area Technical Manager (ATM) for approval as appropriate.
• Conduct verification activities in accordance with OPMS WI 4.02.04 NVD and SOP 6.02 Ante Mortem Inspection.

5.3 DAFF Area Technical Managers

• Review and approve establishment AA amendments as appropriate. 

Barbara Cooper
Director – Export Meat Program
Food Exports Branch

Appendix 1: GUIDELINES FOR ABATTOIR HOLDING PADDOCKS

The following guidelines are provided to help ensure that a seamless history of movements (without gaps) is maintained in both the NLIS database and paper/management records for all stock slaughtered at Australian abattoirs for the purposes of traceability and product integrity.

Holding paddocks PICs and consignments

Stock may be held in nearby or remote holding yards or paddocks before being transferred to abattoir lairages for slaughter.

Nearby holding paddocks are adjacent to the abattoir, nearby such that the stock are walked to the abattoir, or otherwise meet jurisdictional rules for assigning the same PIC.

• Nearby holding paddocks should have the same PIC as the abattoir (otherwise they must be treated the same as remote paddocks).
• Saleyard consignments to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks are transferred by the saleyard to the abattoir PIC.
• Direct consignments from a property to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks are transferred when the abattoir operator uploads the consignment property PIC as the ‘From PIC’ with the kill data.

Remote holding paddocks are more distant such that the stock are trucked to the abattoir, or otherwise do not meet jurisdictional rules for assigning the same PIC.

• ​Remote holding paddocks must have a separate PIC. This PIC should be linked to the processor’s NLIS database account.
• Saleyard consignments to a remote holding paddock are transferred by the saleyard to the holding paddock PIC.
• Direct consignments from a property to a remote holding paddock are transferred by the abattoir operator to the holding paddock PIC as a property to property (P2P) movement before the stock are subsequently moved to the abattoir or otherwise within legislated requirements for P2P movements (generally 7 days).
• A new movement document is required when the stock are transported from the remote holding paddock to the abattoir. The movement document should be a national vendor declaration (NVD) if the remote holding is LPA-accredited, or a State waybill. Copies of this movement document, and the original vendor’s NVD or saleyard post-sale summary (PSS), must be held at both the remote holding and the abattoir in accordance with legislated requirements.
• For sheep and goats, the movement from the remote holding paddock to the abattoir consists of a non-vendor bred lot. In accordance with NLIS Business Rules, the movement document must therefore include all the “Other From PICs” for all animals in the lot, or all animals must be transaction tagged.

CATTLE

NVD and PIC/device status (‘ERP’) checks

The vendor’s NVD or saleyard PSS must be reviewed to ensure that the information confirms that the stock are fit for slaughter and meet market requirements.

The PIC and device status for all cattle must be checked from the NLIS database, based on vendors’ PICs (not just the remote holding PIC where applicable).

A device will not acquire an NL1 status (indicating that the device has been transferred from a non-LPA accredited PIC to an accredited PIC) if the remote holding is not LPA accredited as the device is not being subsequently transferred to an LPA-accredited property.

NLIS database uploads

For saleyard consignments to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks, the vendor’s property PIC is uploaded as the ‘From PIC’ by the abattoir kill system software (provided the devices are on the abattoir PIC’s current holdings).

For direct consignments from a property to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks, the abattoir uploads the property PIC as the ‘From PIC’ in the kill data.

For consignments from the remote holding paddock, the abattoir may either:

• transfer all devices from the remote holding PIC to the abattoir PIC prior to slaughter (so they are on the abattoir’s current holdings); or
• upload the remote holding PIC as the ‘From PIC’ in the kill data.

SHEEP AND GOATS

NVD check

The vendor’s NVD or saleyard PSS must be reviewed to ensure that all required information has been provided and that the information confirms that the stock are fit for slaughter and meet market requirements.

NLIS database uploads

Saleyard consignments to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks are uploaded by the abattoir as a saleyard consignment using the abattoir PIC as the processor PIC. The mob-based kill data includes the saleyard (‘From PIC’ and NVD information are not required).

Direct consignments from a property to the abattoir or nearby holding paddocks are uploaded by the abattoir as a direct consignment using the abattoir PIC as the processor PIC. The mob-based kill data includes the property PIC as the ‘From PIC’ and the vendor’s NVD information.

Consignments from the remote holding paddock to the abattoir are uploaded by the abattoir as direct consignments from the remote holding PIC using the abattoir PIC as the processor PIC. The mob-based kill data includes the remote holding PIC as the ‘From PIC’ and the relevant information from the new movement document.

Summary of NLIS database transfers