Veterinary Certification of Livestock Products
Veterinary certification is the official document with which an official veterinarian attests that animals or animal products meet health requirements.
It is signed by an official veterinarian, or an authorised certifying officer, after the checks required in each case: inspection of the animals or goods, verification of documents and, where appropriate, analytical results. In the European Union the general framework is Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on official controls. It is needed above all for moving live animals and for exporting meat, milk, eggs and their products; for third countries, the content of the certificate is set by the country of destination. In Spain, export certificates are processed through the CEXGAN system of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Whether a plant can certify depends on it being approved and complying with Regulations (EC) 852/2004 and 853/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs and of products of animal origin. Among the things reviewed is the cleaning and disinfection plan: products used, doses, frequencies and verification records. Cleaning products do not have a «veterinary certification» of their own; what is checked is that the disinfectants are registered for the use they are given. Disinfectants for use in livestock settings follow their own registration procedure, and their efficacy is tested with UNE-EN standards from the veterinary field.
Example from the Instaquim range, according to its technical data sheet:
- InstaBact® 3000 Uso en entorno ganadero (registration 11551-P; UNE-EN 1656, UNE-EN 14349, UNE-EN 1657 and UNE-EN 14675): disinfection of facilities and surfaces related to the housing and transport of animals, with 30 minutes of contact and a safety interval before animals are rehoused.