The Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998

In forceThis text since 6 Apr 1998law://uk/uksi/1998/994@2026-11-12

Contents

962 provisions, too many to show on one page. Open a part or section to read it with its history and connections, or search inside the text.

Part I · General
1. 1 Citation and commencement
2. 2 Interpretation
Part II · Production and placing on the market of live shellfish
Part III · Production and placing on the market of fishery products
Part IV · Import conditions for fishery products and live shellfish
Part V · Inspection charges for direct landings from third country vessels
Part VI · Enforcement, penalties and revocations
Schedule 1 · Imports
Schedule 2 · Production and placing on the market conditions for live shellfish
Schedule 3 · Production and placing on the market conditions for fishery products
Schedule 4 · Hygiene conditions for fishing vessels (based on the corre sponding provisions of the annexes to the fishing vessels directive)
1. Part I General hygiene conditions applicable to fishery products on board fishing vessels
2. Part II Additional hygiene conditions applicable to article 1.2 fishing vessels
Schedule 5 · Revocations

Key facts

Type: Statutory instrument · UKSI 1998/994
Made by: UK Government (statutory instrument)
Extent: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

History · 1 version

6 Apr 1998Reading

Connections

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Amended by 8: The Food Safety (Act of Accession concerning the Czech Republic and other States) (Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2004; The Food Safety (Act of Accession concerning the Czech Republic and other States) (Consequential Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2004; The Food Safety (Act of Accession concerning the Czech Republic and other States) (Consequential Amendments) (England) Regulations 2004; The Food Standards Act 1999 (Transitional and Consequential Provisions and Savings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000; The Food Standards Act 1999 (Transitional and Consequential Provisions and Savings) (Scotland) Regulations 2000; The National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 2000; The Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Amendment Regulations 1999; The Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 1999
Repealed by 3: The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (revoked); The Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2005 (revoked); The Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2005 (revoked)

Defined terms · 54

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approved import conditions for fishery products
means the conditions for the importation of fishery products which are laid down in any Commission Decision listed in Part I of Schedule 1;
approved import conditions for live shellfish
means the conditions for the importation of live shellfish which are laid down in any Commission Decision listed in Part II of Schedule 1;
approved relaying area
means a relaying area which, if situated (or treated as situated) in part of Great Britain, is designated as a relaying area in accordance with regulation 3(2) by the food authority for that part of Great Britain;
aquaculture products
means— (a) all fishery products born and raised in controlled conditions until placed on the market as a foodstuff;
auction or wholesale market
means any premises where the display and sale by wholesale of fishery products, but no other activities associated with the production and placing on the market of fishery products, takes place;
batch
means, with regard to— (a) fishery products, a quantity of fishery products obtained under practically identical circumstances;
bivalve molluscs
means filter-feeding lamellibranch molluscs;
chilling
means the process of cooling fishery products to a temperature approaching that of melting ice;
clean seawater
means, with regard to the production of— (a) fishery products for human consumption, seawater or briny water which is free from any microbiological contamination, harmful substances or toxic marine plankton in such quantities as may affect the health quality of fishery products, and which is used under the conditions laid down in these Regulations;
conditioning
means the storage of live shellfish in tanks or any other installation containing clean seawater or in natural sites to remove sand, mud or slime;
designated bivalve production area
means an area of seawaters or brackish waters designated by the Ministers in accordance with regulation 3(1) as an area from which live bivalve molluscs may be taken;
dispatch centre
means any on-shore or off-shore installation for the reception, conditioning, washing, cleaning, grading and wrapping of live shellfish fit for human consumption;
ECU
means European Currency Unit, and any reference in this Part to a specified number of ECU shall be taken to be a reference to the sterling equivalent of that number of ECU;
establishment
means, with regard to the production of fishery products for human consumption, any premises where fishery products are prepared, processed, chilled, frozen, packaged or stored, other than— (a) cold stores where only the handling of wrapped products takes place;
factory vessel
means any vessel on which fishery products undergo one or more of the following operations—filleting, slicing, skinning, mincing, freezing or processing—followed by packaging, but the following are not deemed to be factory vessels— (a) fishing vessels in which only shrimps and molluscs are cooked on board;
faecal coliform
means facultative, aerobic, gram-negative, non-sporeforming, cy tochrome oxidase negative, rod-shaped bacteria that are able to ferment lactose with gas production in the presence of bile salts, or other surface active agents with similar growth-inhibiting properties, at 44°C plus or minus 0.2°C within 24 hours;
fishery products
means— (a) all seawater or freshwater animals, including their roes;
food authority
means— (a) with regard to England— (a) as respects the Isles of Scilly, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, (ii) as respects the City of London (including the Temples), the Common Council, (iii) as respects any other part of England— (aa) if it is situated in a port health district, the port health authority for that district, or (bb) if it is not situated in a port health district, the London borough, district council or unitary authority in whose area that part is situated;
fresh products
means any fishery products whether whole or prepared, including products packaged under vacuum or in a modified atmosphere, which have not undergone any treatment to ensure preservation other than chilling;
frozen products
means fishery products which have undergone a freezing process;
gatherer
means any natural or legal person who collects live shellfish by any means from a production area for the purposes of handling and placing on the market;
healthmark
means a healthmark which (as the context requires) is in accordance with— (a) Chapter X of Schedule 2;
imported
means imported into Great Britain, but only if the product in question was not imported from another part of the British Islands;
laying
means a foreshore, bed, pond, pit, ledge, float or similar place, including a relaying area, where live shellfish are liable to be gathered, harvested or deposited;
live shellfish
has the same meaning as in the Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998;”
marine biotoxins
means poisonous substances accumulated by bivalve molluscs feeding on plankton containing toxins;
means of transport
means those parts set aside for goods in automobile vehicles (which includes trailers), rail vehicles, aircraft or vessels, and containers for transport by land, sea or air;
movement document
means— (a) in relation to any batch of live shellfish transported from a production area to— (a) an approved relaying area in Great Britain, (ii) a dispatch or purification centre approved in accordance with Part II of these Regulations, or (iii) a processing plant in Great Britain, a movement document which meets the requirements of paragraph 6(4) and (5) of Chapter II of Schedule 2;
packaging
means, in relation to fishery products, the procedure for protecting fishery products by a wrapper, a container or any other suitable device;
permanent transport authorization
means a written authorization which has been— (a) issued by a food authority and which meets the requirements of paragraph 6(8) of Chapter II of Schedule 2;
placing on the market
means, with regard to— (a) fishery products, the holding or displaying for sale, offering for sale, selling, delivering or any other form of placing on the market in the European Community, except for— (a) retail sales (which includes retail sales to catering businesses and sales by catering businesses), and (ii) direct transfers on local markets of small quantities by fishermen to retailers or consumers in the circumstances specified in regulation 41;
potable water
has the same meaning as in the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995;
preserve
means the process whereby products are packaged in hermetically sealed containers and subjected to heat treatment to the extent that any micro-organisms that might proliferate are destroyed or inactivated, irrespective of the temperature at which the product is to be stored;
private consignment
means a quantity of fishery products or live shellfish is— (a) imported solely as trade samples;
private laying
means a laying where live shellfish are usually harvested or deposited by the owner or by a tenant of the laying;
processed
means— (a) except in relation to shellfish, having undergone a chemical or physical process such as the heating, smoking, salting, dehydration or marinating of chilled or frozen products, or a combination of these various processes;
production area
means any sea, estuarine or lagoon area containing natural deposits of shellfish or sites used for the cultivation of shellfish (including relaying areas) from which live shellfish are taken;
purification centre
means an establishment with tanks fed by naturally clean seawater or seawater which has been cleaned by appropriate treatment, in which live bivalve molluscs are placed for the time necessary to remove microbiological contamination, so making them fit for human consumption;
relaying
means an operation whereby live bivalve molluscs are transferred to a sea, lagoon or estuarine area in order to remove contamination, but does not include a transfer to an area more suitable for further growth or fattening;
relaying area
means any sea, lagoon or estuarine area with boundaries clearly marked and indicated by buoys, posts or any other fixed means which is used exclusively for the natural purification of live bivalve molluscs;
relevant fishery products
means imported fishery products which— (a) originate in a country or territory which is not part of the customs territory of the European Community other than Greenland;
Sea Fisheries Committee
means a local fisheries committee for a sea fisheries district constituted under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966;
shellfish
means only bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods;
small quantity
means an amount which comprises part of the fisherman’s annual allowance.
the Act
means the Food Safety Act 1990;
the Fishery Products Decisions
means the Commission Decisions listed in Part III of Schedule 1;
the Fishery Products Directive
means Council Directive 91/493/EEC of 22nd July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the production and placing on the market of fishery products, as adapted for the purposes of the EEA Agreement and as amended;
the Fishing Vessels Directive
means Council Directive 92/48/EEC of 16th June 1992 laying down the minimum hygiene rules applicable to fishery products caught on board certain vessels in accordance with article 3(1)(a)(i) of the Fishery Products Directive;
the Health Checks Decision
means Commission Decision 94/356/EC of 20th May 1994 laying down detailed rules for the application of the Fishery Products Directive as regards own health checks on fishery products;
the Live Bivalve Molluscs Directive
means Council Directive 91/492/EEC of 15th July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of live bivalve molluscs, as adapted for the purposes of the EEA Agreement and as amended;
third country
means any country or territory which is not part of the European Economic Area;
unitary authority
means an authority in England which is the sole principal council for its local government area;
vendor
includes an agent selling fishery products on behalf of the owner or master of a fishing vessel.
wrapping
means, in relation to live shellfish, any operation whereby live shellfish are placed in packaging material adequate for the purpose.