Food Safety

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As an official agency of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Galway County Council provides the regulatory control service for certain types of food premises located in the county. These premises include low throughput abattoirs, on-farm poultry slaughtering plants, meat processing establishments and food storage and distribution businesses.

Regulation in these premesis by the Veterinary service includes...

• the inspection, approval and registering of food premises
• provision of ante and post mortem inspections for each animal slaughtered
• the inspection, sampling and analysis of food of animal origin
• provision of official controls to verify compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules
• participation in FSAI and interagency working groups
• interagency working e.g. Regional Zoonoses Committee
• internal auditing
• facilitation of external audits e.g. FVO , FSAI etc
• participation in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed
• data collection and reporting
• investigation of food borne outbreaks and incidents and involvement in Disease Outbreak Control teams where required
• participation in E.U. coordinated Control Plans e.g. Residue Sampling
• training of slaughtermen to E.U. standards

Further information on the registration and approval of food businesses in the county is available from the Veterinary Service or in the downloads section of this page.

Local abbatoirs

Galway County Council Veterinary Department regulates local abattoirs in the county. These abattoirs are approved to slaughter locally sourced cattle, sheep, pigs, goats & poultry for supply to butchers, wholesalers, retailers, and individual people for deep freeze purposes.

‌ Abattoirs supervised by Galway County Council

Small meat processing plants

Galway County Council is responsible for carrying out official controls in small meat processing plants (SMMPs). This includes the initial approval and ongoing supervision of these plants. Regular inspections are carried out to ensure operational & structural hygiene are of the highest possible standard.

Small meat manufacturing premises supervised by Galway Co. Co.

Slaughter of animals

Guidance for on-farm poultry slaughter

Abattoir workers who carry out the act of animal slaughter require an E.U. Certificate of Competency (EC1099/2009). Galway County Council Veterinary services issues certificates to these slaughtermen on the basis of their fitness & competence. The welfare of the animals at the time of slaughter is fundamental to this as is the requirement for best hygiene practices.

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