The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has gazetted new standards for certain raw processed meat products on Friday, 26 August 2022 in terms of section 15 of the Agricultural Product Standards Act, No. 119 of 1990 (‘APS Act’). The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has determined that the regulation shall come into operation on the date of publication thereof (26 August 2022).

The APS Act makes provision for the appointment of an assignee who will oversee the implementation of the regulations, Designation of executive officers and assignees; 2(3)(a) The Minister may, for the purpose of the application of this Act or certain provisions thereof, with regard to a particular product, designate any person, undertaking, body, institution, association or board having particular knowledge in
respect of the product concerned, as an assignee in respect of that product.

The Food Safety Agency (Pty) Ltd was designated by the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (then the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) as an assignee under the APS Act on 13 January 2017 (Government Gazette Notice 7 of 2017) to enforce the quality regulations for poultry meat and eggs, as well as any other meat and meat products (processed meat products and now Raw processed meat products).

REGULATIONS FOR CERTAIN RAW PROCESSED MEAT PRODUCTS

The regulations provide legislative standards for the quality aspects of certain raw processed meat products:

• Composition (classification) of the various classes of certain raw processed meat products;
o Raw minced meat
o Raw mixed-species minced meat
o Raw flavoured ground meat or Raw flavoured minced mix or Raw flavoured meat mix

o Raw flavoured ground meat and offal or Raw flavoured minced and offal mix or Raw flavoured meat and offal mix
o Raw flavoured mixed-species ground meat or Raw flavoured mixed-species minced mix or Raw flavoured mixed-species meat mix
o Raw flavoured mixed-species ground meat and offal or Raw flavoured mixed-species minced and offal mix or Raw flavoured meat and offal mix
o Raw boerewors
o Raw species sausage or Raw species wors
o Raw mixed-species sausage or Raw mixed-species wors
o Raw burger, Raw patty and Raw hamburger patty
o Raw banger or Raw griller
o Raw braaiwors or Raw sizzler
o Geographical Indication (GI) raw processed meat products

• Packing requirements for Containers and Outer Containers;
• Marking of Containers and Outer Containers;
• Sampling of raw processed meat products.

IMPLEMENTATION

The regulations must be implemented on the date of publication, therefore 26 August 2022, however, to inform the industry of the assignee’s envisaged rollout and implementation plan, as well as allow the industry the opportunity to comment on the assignee’s proposed fees, implementation of the regulation will commence on final publication of the fees.

The designated assignee will be required to conduct verification inspections based on the regulations. This enforcement of the regulations will be conducted on a cost recovery basis as permitted in terms of Section 3(1A) of the APS Act which states:

(a) Fees may be charged in respect of the powers exercised and duties performed by the executive officer or the assignee, as the case may be, to ensure compliance with this section.
(b) In the case of powers exercised and duties performed by: (ii) the assignee, the fee determined by such assignee shall be payable.

The proposed fees will be determined and published in the Government Gazette for comments.

THE WAY FORWARD

Since the new regulations will have a direct impact on the raw processed meat products industry, Food Safety Agency (Pty) Ltd has developed an online platform for all facilities to register in order to receive regular updates regarding implementation, fees, and continuous communication, amongst others. Herewith the link to the registration form: https://foodsafetyagency.co.za/registration-form/

We will also embark on this journey, by presenting the envisaged rollout and implementation plan at roadshows in Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria, respectively. The dates for the proposed workshops are as follows;

Cape Town – Monday, 26 September 2022 – Cape Peninsula University Of Technology (CPUT)


Bloemfontein – Wednesday, 28 September 2022 – Bains Lodge


Durban – Monday, 03 October 2022 – 6 Crassula Road, Cornubia Industrial Estate


Pretoria – Wednesday, 05 October 2022 – (To be Confirmed)

During the workshops the following will be discussed:
• Introduction to the Assignee
• Functions related to the verification inspections
• Frequency

o Inspections; and
o Sampling

• Sampling:
o Specie Identification Testing
o Compositional Testing

• Non-Compliance
• Fees for inspections and sampling

CONCLUSION

Food Safety Agency (Pty) Ltd is looking forward to engaging this new endeavour with the industry in order to ensure products presented for sale that are of high quality.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Armand Visagie (Manager: Marketing and RAW): armand.visagie@afsq.co.za or 076 740 1777
Nicole Bergh (Manager: Compliance and RAW): nicole.bergh@afsq.co.za or 082 931 0399
General Queries: info@afsq.co.za or (012) 361 1937