Animal by-products (ABP), here defined as dead animals and body parts involved in commercial activities that are not intended for human consumption, can be considered a potential source of risks to public and animal health. ABP also include aquatic animals, meaning that both feed mussels (=mussels harvested with intention to use as animal feed) and waste mussels must be treated in accordance with the health rules laid down in EUs ABPregulation (EC) No 1069/2009. The process currently used by Ecopelag AB for feed production requires live mussels. As the first process step through pressure cooking, resulting ABPs are hygenized and no longer considered a risk. Therefore, the subject of this report will not be focused on feed mussels, but rather on our planned treatment of waste mussels. Waste are here defined as harvested mussels that for some reason did not pass through the production line.
Dead mussels are classified as ABP category 3 (lowest risk-class). There are several different options for hygenisation and use of category 3 material, but we have focused on option (f) stipulated under Article 14 in EC No 1060/2009, ‘in the case of material originating from aquatic animals, ensiled, composted or transformed into biogas’. Approved methods for hygienisation of Category 3 materials are specified in chapter III of (EU) No 142/2011, which is the regulation on how to implement (EC) No 1069/2009. We chose to work with method no 7, ”Any processing method authorised by the competent authority where the following [specified further in text] have been demonstrated by the operator to that authority”.
