Council Directive 97/76/EC amending Directive 77/99/EEC and Directive 72/462/EEC with regard to the rules applicable to minced meat, meat preparations and certain other products of animal origin.

This Directive introduces new conditions governing the production, placing on the market and import of cleaned, salted or dried and/or heated stomachs, bladders and intestines. Raw materials must come from animals which, following ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection have been judged suitable for human consumption; products which cannot be kept at ambient temperature must be stored until their dispatch in premises intended for that purpose. Raw materials must be transported from the slaughterhouse of origin to the establishment under satisfactory hygiene conditions, premises must be provided for the storage of wrapping and packaging materials; and wrapping and packaging must take place under hygienic conditions in a room or in a place intended for that purpose. (6 articles and 1 Annex)