This Regulation provides for a Community classification scale for the carcasses of adult bovine animals.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2006 of 24 July 2006 concerning the Community scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals (codified version)
Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2006 of 24 July 2006 concerning the Community scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals (codified version)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(2),
Whereas:
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 of 28 April 1981 determining the Community scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals(3) has been substantially amended(4). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Regulation should be codified.
A Community grading scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals should be applied for recording prices and for intervention in the beef and veal sector.
The classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals should be made on the basis of conformation and the degree of fat cover. The combination of these two criteria enables carcasses to be divided into classes. Carcasses thus classified should be identified.
In order to ensure the uniform application of this Regulation in the Community, provision should be made for on-the-spot checks by a Community inspection committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
-
‘carcass’: the whole body of a slaughtered animal as presented after bleeding, evisceration and skinning, presented:
-
without the head and without the feet; the head shall be separated from the carcass at the atloido-occipital joint and the feet shall be severed at the carpametacarpal or tarsometatarsal joints,
-
without the organs contained in the thoracic and abdominal cavities with or without the kidneys, the kidney fat and the pelvic fat,
-
without the sexual organs and the attached muscles and without the udder or the mammary fat;
-
-
‘half-carcass’: the product obtained by separating the carcass referred to in point (a) symmetrically through the middle of each cervical, dorsal, lumbar and sacral vertebra and through the middle of the sternum and the ischiopubic symphysis.
Article 3
For the purpose of establishing market prices, the carcass shall be presented without the removal of external fat, the neck being cut in accordance with veterinary requirements:
-
without kidneys, kidney fat, or pelvic fat,
-
without thin skirt or thick skirt,
-
without the tail,
-
without the spinal cord,
-
without cod fat,
-
without fat on the inside of topside,
-
without jugular vein and the adjacent fat.
However, Member States shall be authorised to accept different presentations when this reference presentation is not used.
In such instances, the adjustments necessary to progress from those presentations to the reference presentation shall be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 43(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(5).
Article 4
1.
Without prejudice to the intervention rules applying, the carcasses of adult bovine animals shall be divided into the following categories:
-
carcasses of uncastrated young male animals of less than two years of age;
-
carcasses of other uncastrated male animals;
-
carcasses of castrated male animals;
-
carcasses of female animals that have calved;
-
carcasses of other female animals.
Criteria shall be laid down for differentiating between categories of carcasses in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 43(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999.
2.
The carcasses of adult bovine animals shall be classified by successive assessment of:
-
conformation, as defined in Annex I;
-
fat cover, as defined in Annex II.
3.
The conformation class designated in Annex I by the letter S may be used by Member States to take account, through the optional introduction of a conformation class superior to the existing classes (double-muscled carcasses), of the characteristics or expected development of a particular form of production.
Member States which intend to make use of this possibility shall notify the Commission and the other Member States accordingly.
4.
Member States shall be authorised to subdivide each of the classes provided for in Annexes I and II into a maximum of three subclasses.