Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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393. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the regulations preventing knackery owners who have a dog food licence from delivering dog food to customers, while at the same time customers may collect the dog food at the knackery. [37244/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Article 18(1)(f) of the EU Animal By-Products (ABP) Regulation (EC) 1069 of 2009 allows Member States, by way of derogation, to authorise, under conditions which ensure the control of risks to public and animal health, the collection and use of Category 2 and Category 3 ABP for feeding to dogs from recognised kennels and packs of hounds. Following an intensive consultation process, my Department introduced a new policy and procedures in this area on 1 May, 2015. The purpose of the new policy is, while allowing properly regulated economic activity to proceed, to mitigate the potential risk to both animal and public health, particularly from Category 2 ABP meat which is derived from fallen animals. The key elements of this policy are that:

i. Collection and sale of Category 2 and 3 ABP is restricted to Collection Centres, approved and supervised by the Department;

ii. Purchase and use of Category 2 and 3 ABP for greyhounds is restricted to Licensed Meat Feeders, authorised by the Department following a recommendation by either one of the greyhound bodies - Bord na gCon and/or the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) - on foot of the issue of a Recognised Kennel Authorisation (RKA).

Operators of authorised Collection Centres supplying relevant material other than fish offal to final users must ensure that the material being supplied is labelled appropriately and supplied only to authorised end-users; and the operator must verify authorisations in each instance. Collection Centres are fixed premises, facilitating effective supervision of controls, including the effective and reliable identification and denaturation of ABPby staining or other means. Such premises can, for example, be attached to a knackery (Category 2) or a slaughterhouse (Category 3), or can be an independent building. The sale of ABP meat from mobile units such as vans/trucks /lorries at any unauthorised venue is prohibited. The Department is reviewing the possibility of permitting direct delivery, by approved Collection Centres to Licensed Meat Feeders, on a pre-order basis and subject to compliance with strict conditions including use of refrigerated transport.