Overview of Licensing Requirements for Deadstock Collectors and Disposal Facility Operators and Useful Information for Licensees and Licence Applicants

A natural consequence of livestock production is the animal mortalities caused by disease or infirmity. The collectors and processors of dead farmed animals play an important role in ensuring the proper disposal of animals that die off-farm and mortalities that farm operators choose not to dispose of on their farms. The proper management of dead animals is crucial to maintaining public confidence in Ontario's food production and food safety systems.

The primary purpose of Regulation 105/09 under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 (FSQA) is to ensure that meat from deadstock does not enter the human food chain. Another critically important function of the Regulation is to ensure that livestock that die off-farm, or are disposed of off-farm, are disposed of in a manner that protects human and animal health and minimizes environmental impacts.

Regulation 105/09 governs the off-farm disposal of deadstock and mortalities occurring off-farm. For the purposes of licensees, deadstock animals are alpacas, bison, cattle, deer, elk, goats, llamas, sheep, yaks, horses, ponies, donkeys, pigs and other porcine animals, ratites, rabbits and poultry. Poultry means chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea fowl, quail, pigeons, partridges and pheasants. Hybrids of any of these animals are also deadstock.

The Regulation specifies who may collect or receive deadstock for disposal, specifies who must be licensed and sets out the methods of disposal. The Regulation requires anyone in the business of collecting deadstock to be licensed. Any one who receives deadstock for the purposes of salvaging meat from carcasses, feeding carcasses to captive wildlife, rendering, composting or storing and shipping is required to be licensed. The regulation also requires anyone in the business of receiving and distributing meat obtained from deadstock to be licensed.

Licensees

Below is a brief description of the persons who are required to be licensed and some of their responsibilities. Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of licensees is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Collectors

Any person in the business of collecting and transporting deadstock must be licensed and meet the standard requirements for vehicles and proper transport. Transporting your Deadstock.

Proof of a collector's license must be displayed in the windshield in the form of a decal issued by the ministry or a copy of valid collector's licence.

Collectors may only deliver the dead animals they collect to:

• deadstock disposal facilities with licensed operators:
  • transfer stations
  • salvaging facilities
  • composting facilities, and
  • rendering facilities;
• an approved waste disposal site, or
• an equivalent facility outside Ontario that may legally accept the dead animals.

Under the regulations, a collector's licence is required by any person that transports any dead animal from one licensee:

• to another licensee
• to an approved waste disposal site, or
• an equivalent facility outside of Ontario.

Except in specified circumstances, only collectors and Environmental Protection Act (EPA) approved waste carriers may transport unfinished compost from a composting disposal facility to an EPA approved waste disposal site.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of collectors is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Transfer Stations

Any person that operates a site to receive deadstock for the sole purpose of temporarily storing the carcasses before sending them to a permitted disposal destination is required to be licensed.
Generally, transfer stations are required to ship any dead animals received within 24 hours of delivery. Dead animals may be kept at transfer stations if stored under refrigerated or frozen conditions.

Shipments from a transfer station must be transported by a licensed collector.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of operators of transfer stations is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Salvaging Facilities

Any person who receives deadstock for the purpose of feeding the carcasses to captive wildlife kept at a captive wildlife establishment or for the purpose of salvaging the meat from the carcasses is required to be licensed. Meat salvaged from dead animals may be fed to animals or used for wildlife baiting or sold for these purposes.

To ensure the meat obtained from dead animals is not used for human food, any meat that is sold is required to be denatured and labelled. The regulation also prescribes packaging and portion sizes.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of operators of salvaging facilities is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Brokers

Any person engaged in the business of obtaining and re-distributing meat salvaged from deadstock in a raw form continues to be required to be licensed as a broker. Any meat from dead animals that a broker distributes that is altered in any way must be denatured, packaged and labelled in accordance with the Regulation.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of brokers is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Rendering Facility

Any person who operates a facility that receives deadstock for the purpose of rendering the carcasses or parts of carcasses by heating to produce rendered products is required to be licensed. Rendered products include fats and meals.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of operators of rendering facilities is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Composting Facility

Any person who receives deadstock for the purpose of composting is required to be licensed. EPA approved waste disposal sites that are permitted to accept and compost deadstock for composting are exempt from the FSQA regulation.

As a reminder to Food Safety Quality Act. 2001, Regulation 105/09 licencees and potential licencees, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requires a permit to be issued to anyone involved in transporting, receiving, processing (harvest - salvage), containment and destruction of bovine (cattle) deadstock in Ontario. For more information contact www.inspection.gc.ca

Regulation 105/09 sets out extensive standards and requirements for deadstock composting facilities. The Regulation provides operators with flexibility in initial composting and curing methods. The siting, facility and operational standards and requirements are designed to ensure deadstock is composted in a manner that minimizes the attraction of scavengers and pests, controls odours and protects surface and ground water. The operational requirements and finished product standards require operators to ensure carcass destruction is completed and the finished compost does not exceed the maximum tolerance standards for pathogens, foreign materials and uncomposted residue.

Finished compost from deadstock that is offered for sale must comply with federal standards set out in the Fertilizers Act and Regulations.

Operators of compost facilities who wish to dispose of materials undergoing composting must do so in accordance with the Regulation. The regulation specifies the permitted destinations of such materials and by whom they may be transported.

Complete information on the licensing requirements and the responsibilities of operators of composting facilities is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Licensee Record Keeping

Records are to made and be kept for at least three years by:

• collectors, of every dead animal collected and its disposa,l and the record shall be kept in the transporting vehicle while a dead animal is being transported
• operators of transfer stations, salvaging facilities, rendering facilities and composting facilities, of every dead animal received and its disposal, and
• brokers of each unit of meat derived from a dead animal that is received and its disposal.

Operators of composting facilities are required to keep additional records specified in the Regulation.

Complete information on the record keeping requirements and the responsibilities of licensees is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

How do I know if my business is required to be licensed under Regulation 105/09 under the FSQA?

To find out if your business or facility requires a license under Regulation 105/09 under ther FSQA please contact, Dead Animal Disposal Advisor with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) at 1-888-466-2372 ext. 67510 or kevin.joynes@ontario.ca.

How do I become licensed?

All applicants for a licence are required to provide the director with a completed licence application form that includes contact and other business information specified in the Regulation, as well as any other information the director may need to determine an applicant's eligibility for a licence.

Applicants for a licence to operate as a collector are required to provide vehicle information including plate numbers. Applicants are required to certify the vehicles, trailers and transport containers used to transport deadstock meet the vehicle requirements specified in the Regulation.

Applicants for a licence to operate a composting facility, salvaging facility, rendering facility or transfer station are required to prepare and forward maps, plans, specifications and any written procedures specified in the Regulation.

Complete information on the license application and renewal requirements and the responsibilities of applicants is available by contacting the ministry's Dead Animal Disposal Advisor or in Regulation 105/09 on the government's e-Laws website.

Renewal of Licences

A licensee should apply for the renewal of a licence at least 60 days immediately before its expiry if the licensee wishes the licence to be deemed to continue beyond its expiry, where the director has not made a determination to renew the licence before its expiry.

Where can I get information and help?

OMAFRA staff are here to help and answer questions, before, during and after the licensing process.

Resources and materials are also available that have all the required information for operators, and staff will work closely with licence holders to provide education and advice on improvements that are required.

Resources available to operators include:

Copy of Regulation 105/09 under the Food Safety Quality Act, 2001

For more information regarding the dead stock regulation, contact;

1 888 4-OMAFRA (1 888 466-2372)
www.omafra.gov.on.ca

For technical information contact:

Kevin Joynes, Dead Animal Disposal Advisor at 1 888 4-OMAFRA (1 888 466-2372) ext.67510
kevin.joynes@ontario.ca