In March 2017, the role of the GMIS Veterinarian changed from District Supervisor to PHV. Although this transition took place some time ago, questions remain about the PHV’s revised role and authority within the GMIS program. The following is a quote from Animal Industry Division Director, Adam Buuck:
“ In 1999, as a brand-new slaughter inspector, I was so surprised to learn that our Meat Inspection program had multiple Veterinarians on staff to conduct dispositions of livestock exhibiting ANYTHING ‘abnormal’. All I had to do when I observed something that didn’t look quite right, was call the Area Vet to discuss and, on most occasions (and within a few hours’ time), he or she would arrive to thoroughly assess and make an official disposition of the issue, at no cost to the establishment. I remember thinking what a value this was to our regulated meat industry throughout the U.S., and the added confidence it gave me as a meat-loving consumer, that U.S. produced meat truly is the safest in the world.
Fast forward twenty-two years later, and our Georgia Meat Inspection Program has a team of some of the best Veterinarians we could ever hope to employ, still answering those calls, and using their hard-earned education and experience to make scientifically based decisions on animal health issues at your establishments. Today, I value our GMIS Veterinarians more than ever, as I now have a more complete understanding of what each of them bring to the table that the rest of us cannot. Although it’s tough and expensive when an animal, carcass, or part has to be condemned, it’s essential for food safety, and consumer confidence in the meat supply here in Georgia.
As an establishment owner or employee, I hope you too recognize the value of our GMIS Veterinarians to your consumers, and in turn, the continued livelihood of your business. Our Veterinarians are here to serve public health, animal health, GMIS, and you. So please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Area PHV, if you have any questions or concerns, in the future.”
PHVs fulfill an absolutely essential and critical role in protecting public health, by appropriately addressing livestock with disease conditions and ensuring an appropriate disposition of affected carcasses and parts. In making dispositions, the GMIS PHV employs a consistent, systematic approach for evaluating each carcass by conducting a thorough examination to gather sufficient evidence to support a sound disposition. In doing so, he or she further ensures that meat products entering commerce are wholesome, unadulterated, and suitable for human consumption.
Although the GMIS PHV’s primary responsibilities include appropriate livestock dispositions, lesion identification, tissue histopathology, disease detection, and livestock humane handling, PHV’s are also responsible for assisting with the general quality assurance of the GMIS program. GMIS PHV quality assurance responsibilities include training of Inspectors’ slaughter procedures, verification of establishment sanitation, review and observation of HACCP food safety requirements, verification of product labeling requirements, etc. As with each GMIS position, communication is also a key role, as the PHV is responsible for providing technical assistance to inspection staff, establishments, and the general public on veterinary-related, and other essential food-safety issues.
The GMIS PHV is responsible for visiting most of the slaughter establishments in their assigned, geographical area each month. During these visits, the PHV routinely conducts ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection; observes humane handling of livestock; observes the assigned inspector conduct his or her slaughter duties, provides training to the assigned inspector, as necessary, and enters daily task results into the USDA FSIS Public Health Information System (PHIS) (GMIS’ inspection database).
Role of the Meat Inspector at Slaughter
The Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) and the Georgia Meat Inspection Act (GMIA) mandate that inspection personnel conduct antemortem inspection of each livestock animal (i.e., cattle, sheep, swine, and goats) prior to slaughter, and post-mortem inspection of all resulting carcasses and parts. GMIS in-plant Meat Inspectors are responsible for identifying livestock at ante-mortem, and carcasses and parts at post-mortem as either “normal” or “abnormal”, according to established slaughter procedures (i.e., FSIS Directive 6100.2). When GMIS Meat Inspectors identify animals, carcasses, or parts as “abnormal” he or she is required to contact the GMIS PHV for a disposition, unless established procedures state otherwise (i.e., specific conditions allow inspection personnel to “trim and pass” or “condemn” carcasses).
When an inspector identifies an animal on antemortem that requires a PHV disposition, he or she must have an establishment employee move this animal to the suspect pen and call the PHV, unless the animal is non-ambulatory (i.e., the animal cannot get up and move on its own). Non-ambulatory cattle are condemned immediately and are not to be moved. Once an establishment has humanely euthanized a non-ambulatory animal in the pen, the PHV should be notified due to the possibility of a reportable disease.
When the inspector identifies a carcass or part on postmortem that requires PHV disposition, he or she must have the establishment “rail out” the carcass (i.e., separate the identified carcass and parts pending a PHV’s disposition). The inspector must then use as many retain tags as necessary to retain the carcass and its parts, on the PHV’s behalf. The retain tag must remain in place until the PHV removes it or instructs the inspector to do so. Once the inspector has retained the carcass and parts, he or she must run a Kidney Inhibition Swab (KIS)Test while awaiting the PHV’s arrival.
PHV Dispositions of Livestock, Carcasses, and Parts
Once onsite at a slaughter establishment, the PHV assumes full authority for any animal disease related issues that are present and will direct the inspector to take the appropriate regulatory action(s) necessary within the inspected facility. The PHV may seek diagnostic assistance from the pathology laboratory if he or she is uncertain of the appropriate disposition based on organoleptic findings alone. Once pathology results are available, the PHV considers the laboratory’s report and ante-mortem and post-mortem findings together for his or her final disposition.
NOTE: Retained carcasses and parts pending pathology sample results may not be further processed without express permission from the PHV. If the PHV does permit the retained carcasses and parts to be further processed, proper identification and sanitation must be maintained between the retained products and inspected and passed products at all times.
Appeals
Every licensed establishment has the right to appeal any action (i.e., NR’s, PHV dispositions, regulatory control actions, Notices of Warning (NOW), Notices of Intended Enforcement (NOIE), Notices of Suspension (NOS), etc.) that is taken by a GMIS Employee. I encourage our licensed facilities to respectfully appeal if they are not satisfied with the Inspector’s, PHV’s, Supervisor’s, Manager’s, or Director’s explanation of the issue being a noncompliance with the regulatory requirements. When you appeal a decision we have made, it causes us to conduct an internal review of the situation to ensure that we are only holding you to the mandated regulatory requirements. Challenges from licensed facilities are a great way for our program to learn from our mistakes and to grow and improve. This, in turn, has a positive impact on the whole system (including our program, your licensed facilities, and the end consumer).
To appeal a finding, simply use the chart below to communicate with the immediate supervisor of the individual whose action or communication you are appealing. A written appeal is preferred, as it helps reduce information from being lost in translation, and ensures we have a record of the conversation, so that the decision can be utilized in the future or in other similar circumstances, and context can be better understood.
Best Regards,
Aaron K. Knighton, MPH
State Director of Meat Inspection
Georgia Department of Agriculture
19 M.L.K, Jr. Dr. SW | Room 122|Atlanta, GA |30334
Office: 404.656.3673 | Fax: 404.463.1998
www.agr.georgia.gov/meat-inspection.aspx
http://www.agr.georgia.gov/title-vi.aspx
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Slaughter Facilities are Vital to Eradicating Scrapie in Sheep and Goats
Since 2003, slaughter plants have been doing their part to eradicate scrapie by saving heads from adult sheep and goats for sampling by state and federal personnel. It is estimated that scrapie costs the sheep industry 40 million dollars a year in lost productivity and inability to gain access to export markets.
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Scrapie is a fatal disease of sheep and goats. Scrapie is in the same class of diseases as Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer and elk. Scrapie is not known to infect people.
Signs of scrapie include intense itching and rubbing against fixed objects, biting at legs and feet, loss of coordination, stumbling, falling down, chronic weight loss and eventual death. Sheep often rub so much they develop bald spots on their sides and back. Scrapie infected animals may be observed rubbing against the walls in holding pens at a slaughter plant. When a scrapie positive animal is found we must be able to trace the animal back to its birth flock/herd in order to clean up the infection. Sheep and goats entering interstate commerce are required to be identified with scrapie tags. All Georgia slaughter plants are considered to be points of interstate commerce. An exception to this rule is lambs/kids younger than 18 months of age are not required to be identified with scrapie tags when arriving at slaughter facilities.
The foundation of the National Scrapie Eradication Program is the collection of tissue samples from the heads of sheep and goats at slaughter facilities. The USDA has a national goal of sampling 40,000 sheep and goats each year at slaughter. In 2021, the USDA goal for Georgia is 69 Georgia sheep and 116 Georgia Goats sampled.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture Animal Health Section leads this effort to collect scrapie samples. Animals sampled for scrapie are not required to be held by the plant pending notification of results.
We ask our slaughter plant owners to let their plant meat inspector know when adult sheep and goats are scheduled for slaughter. The inspector can then pass this information to the Animal Health Section. We sample sheep and goats from any state that are 1 year old or older. If the animal has one pair of fully erupted adult teeth then they are considered old enough to sample. We ask the plant to remove the head leaving all manmade identification tags intact and store the head in a refrigerator, not freezer until our personnel arrives to sample the animal. We can reimburse the plant a small fee per head for removal and storage.
Slaughter plants that receive sheep and goats of any age are required to keep certain records for 5 years after receiving the animals. These records are related to where the sheep/goats originate. If a farmer brings in sheep/goats that were born on their farm the plant is required to record the name, address, phone number of the producer in addition to a description of the animals and the date the animals were delivered to the plant. The description can be specific information such as age, breed, gender of the sheep or goat. Or it can be general like number of sheep or goats, class of animals- lambs, ewes, kids, does, etc. and date the animals arrived.
 If a dealer/broker or someone other than the producer whose farm the animal was born on sends or delivers sheep/goats to the plant all animals 18 months of age or older must be identified with USDA Scrapie Tags before off-loading unless the animals were given a group/lot identification number from a slaughter-only restricted livestock market or terminal feedlot. An Owner Hauler Statement or Certificate of Veterinary Inspection must be given to the plant by the dealer/broker/hauler. An OHS must be signed by the owner/hauler and kept on file by the plant for 5 years after arrival. The following information must be included on the OHS:
Owner Hauler Statement
A signed written statement by the owner or hauler that includes:
1. The name, address, and phone number of the owner and, if different, the hauler;
2. The date the animals were moved;
3. If moving sheep/goat that are not individually identified with scrapie tags, the group/lot identification number and any information required to officially identify the animals;
4. The number of animals;
5. The species, breed, and class of animals. If breed is unknown, for sheep the face color and for goats the type (milk, fiber, or meat) must be recorded instead;
6. The name and address of point of origin (assembly point, livestock market, etc), if different from the owner’s address, and the destination (slaughter plant).
7. A statement that the animals are in slaughter channels
An existing document that includes the same information as above and is signed by the owner or the hauler meets this definition of OHS. A signed scanned pdf/electronic version of the OHS is acceptable.
Owner Hauler Statement Form
https://mcusercontent.com/1c15216d903f8ece34875b4b3/files/e7a2c744-95e7-480c-b32f-e3e035a6554f/Owner_Hauler_Statement_Farm_to_Slt_Plant.pdf
Scrapie Tag Requirements
Under 18 months of age: no scrapie tag needed
Direct from birth herd to slaughter plant: No scrapie tag needed if the sheep/goat is not penned with sheep/goats of different ownership. They must remain as a lot separate from others throughout the slaughter process
Sheep/goats from Terminal Feedlot/Dealer/Broker/Order Buyer: All sheep/goats 18 months or older must be identified with scrapie tags prior to unloading at plant.
For more information about scrapie disease, if you have specific questions about the information included in this article or to discuss your plant’s participation and reimbursement for scrapie sampling, feel free to contact me directly.
Stan Crane, DVM
Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist
Animal Health Section
Cell: 404.290.1176 | Office: 404.656.3667
Email: stan.crane@agr.georgia.gov
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