GUIDANCE ON MEAT PRODUCTS
GRI
Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ) wish to re-iterate guidance to all Industry Participants on the risks of feeding meat to racing greyhounds that may yield an adverse analytical finding when tested under our rules of racing. Racing greyhounds in this context may be defined as any greyhound which is likely to be presented for a Trial, Sales Trial or Race at Licensed Stadia.
Meat and other carcase tissues which are not deemed fit for human consumption are called ‘Animal By-Products’. There are regulations surrounding the use of Animal By Products which divide them into three categories.
- - Category 1- This category is classified as Highest Risk because it includes specified risk material (SRM). This category of meat/tissues must be disposed of and is not, nor should not be available for feeding to greyhounds.
- - Category 2- This category contains knackery meat or meat taken from fallen animals. This meat is stained green or blue to identify it. It is available for feeding under certain conditions but may contain drug residues. Research has shown that livestock given procaine penicillin before slaughter may serve as a source of urinary procaine in Greyhounds consuming the meat.[1] Category 2 ABP’s may therefore contain residues of certain drugs used for animal treatment which could affect the performance of racing greyhounds or may return adverse analytical findings upon screening.
- - Category 3- low risk (stained sunset yellow).
It is important to remember that some meats may contain residues of various drugs that were used to treat the animals from which that meat was taken. Therefore, to ensure that any risk to integrity is managed appropriately, we hereby issue the follow directions:
RCÉ advises that when considering whether to feed any Animal By-Products to racing greyhounds all Industry Participants should select Category 3 meats.
RCÉ does not recommend the feeding of Category 2 meats to racing greyhounds as they may contain residues from the treatment of animals with pharmacologically active substances. Feeding of such contaminated products will not serve as a defence but rather an aggravating factor to the detection of an adverse analytical finding at any stage of investigations carried out by the Regulatory Department of RCÉ or investigative hearings before the Independent Control Committee as contaminated meats are not considered normal or ordinary feeding within the RCÉ definition of a prohibited substance* under the 2007 Racing Regulations
*prohibited substance means any substance which by its nature could affect the performance of a greyhound the origin of which on or in the tissues, body fluids or excreta of a greyhound could not be traced to normal and ordinary feeding. A finding of a prohibited substance means a finding of the substance itself or a metabolite of the substance or an isomer of the substance or an isomer of a metabolite.
For further information on National and EU legislation and information on ABP’s please revert to following links:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/si/187/made/en/pdf
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/animalbyproducts/
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