Blood from civil abattoir still disposed in drains – EC report

A report issued this week by the European Commission’sFood Veterinary Office reveals that an inspection carried out in October found that blood from the civil abattoir and in the poultry slaughterhouse visited by an inspection team was still disposed through the drain after being sieved through 6mm drain traps instead of being incinerated, as required by EU legislation.

Following the inspection, the government has announced plans for the collection of blood from slaughter houses so that this material is incinerated instead of disposed in the public drains.

The audit team also noted that raw meat and offal from butchers’ shops is still disposed of at the landfill together with municipal waste. The government now intends to introduce a collection system for this kind of waste.

The Food and Veterinary Office’s audit was conducted to evaluate whether official controls are carried out in accordance with EU regulations concerning animal by-products. 

The report welcomes improvements in the collection of vertebral columns which are considered ‘Specified Risk Material’ (SRM) – a term reserved for the most unhygienic animal body parts which should be incinerated as soon as possible.

New regulations introduced last year ensure that vertebral columns of bovines over 30 months are not be allowed to exit the premises of the civil abattoir and have to be removed in the slaughterhouse line.

Previously, this potentially dangerous material was collected from butchers for incineration.

The report concludes that the system of official controls now largely meets the requirements of EU laws except for minor deficiencies in relation to the disposal of blood from most slaughterhouses and raw material originating at butchers’ shops.

Incinerator has already reached maximum capacity

But the report also reveals the €12 million Marsa abattoir incinerator – which also caters for clinical waste from hospitals – has already reached its maximum processing capacity.

The report quotes representatives of WasteServ claiming that the Marsa incinerator processed about 8,000 tonnes of waste in 2009, of which 6,500 tonnes were animal by products.

According to the report, the plant works in cycles that include a six-week period of operation and five days of maintenance. During maintenance days, the material is stored.

Since the plant has reached full capacity, alternatives have to be found in case the production of animal by-products exceeds the incineration capacity due to emergencies.

One of the alternatives being considered is to dispatch Category 3 animal waste (which includes raw meat and offal) to the new biogas plants; one of which is due to enter in operation during the first half of 2011.

In its inspection of the incineration plant, the audit team found that the relevant hygiene requirements were satisfactorily implemented. The Maltese authorities also informed them that the plant was subject to official controls three times per year, although the audit team found no evidence of such official controls during 2010.

The Maltese authorities also informed the FVO that they are exploring the possibility of dispatching Category 3 animal byproducts to other member states for disposal.

Discussions are being carried out with Cyprus as a contingency disposal plan in case of an emergency, during which Malta is unable to burn this waste