Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requiresCAP. 211. “Act” means the Belize Agricultural Health Authority Act; “additive” means a food additive specified by the Codex Alimentarius Commission; “aquaculture products” means all fishery products born and raised in controlled conditions until placed on the market as a foodstuff; “Authority” means the Belize Agricultural Health Authority established under section 3 of the Act; “brine” means a solution of common salt (sodium chloride) and fresh water, or seawater with or without the addition of salt; “can” means any hermetically sealed container; “canned” fish” means any fish or fishery product that is sealed in a can and is sterilized; “certificate of registration” means a certificate issued in accordance with regulation 26 (6); “conveyance” means any vessel, aircraft, motor vehicle, cargo container, trailer or other means of transportation of fish, fishery products or containers of fish or fishery products; “corrective action” means the procedure that is to be followed whenever a deviation from a critical limit in a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Plan occurs or whenever the results of monitoring procedures in respect of a prerequisite program plan, or a food safety program for the importing or exporting of fish or fishery products show that there is non-compliance with these “critical control point” means a point in a process operation at which control is to be applied in order to prevent or eliminate a hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level; “critical limit” means the maximum or minimum value to which a hazard must be controlled at a critical control point; “crustaceans” means all species of the class Crustacea; “decomposed”, with respect to fish or fishery products, means fish or fishery product that have an offensive or objectionable odour, flavour, colour, texture or substance associated with spoilage; “drained weight” means the weight of the edible contents of a container of fish or fishery products after the liquid has been drained by a method approved by the Managing Director, in consultation with the Minister; “fillets” means222 (a) slices of fish flesh of irregular size and shape that have been removed from the carcass of a fish by cuts made parallel to the backbone; or (b) slices of fish flesh described in paragraph (a) that have been cut into sections and from which all internal organs, head, fins, bones, except intramuscular or lateral bones, and all discoloured flesh have been removed, “finfish” means all species of the class Osteichthyes; “fish” includes all or any of the varieties of marine or freshwater animals, by whatever description called; “fish export licence” means a certificate of registration issued under regulation 27 (1) that authorizes the holder to– (a) export live or processed species of the class Crustacea; (b) export live or processed finfish that have been raised in an aquaculture operation; and (c) export live or processed finfish that have been harvested from the wild; “fish import permit” means a permit issued in accordance with “fishery products” means all seawater or freshwater animals or parts of such animals, including their roes, excluding aquatic mammals; “food safety program” as it relates to fish or fishery product, means a fish inspection and control system, that includes procedures, inspections and records, for the purpose of verifying and documenting the processing of fish and the safety and quality of fish processed in, exported from or imported into Belize; “HACCP Plan” means a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Plan that is prepared in accordance with the principles of hazard analysis critical control point inspection as specified in the Third Schedule of the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (Food Safety) Regulations, 2001, to ensure control of hazards during the processing of fish; “hazard” means a biological, chemical or physical agent or factor that has the potential to cause illness or injury to humans in the absence of its control; “Inspector” means an official authorized by the Authority to perform the duties of inspection in order to ensure food safety; “lot” with respect to fish and fishery products, means a shipment or part of a shipment of fish or fishery product that is of the same species, is processed in the same manner by the same producer, is packaged in the same size of container and bears the same “Managing Director” means the Managing Director appointed pursuant to section 8 (1) of the Act; “Minister” means the Minister responsible for Agriculture; “net weight”, with respect to unfrozen or frozen lobster meat, means the weight of the edible contents of a container after the liquid has been drained from the container by a method approved by the Managing Director, in consultation with the Minister, and, with respect to any other fish or fishery products, means the total weight of the edible contents of a container; “prerequisite program plan” means a series of steps, measures or procedures that are to be applied to ensure compliance with the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (Food Safety) Regulations, 2001, including224 (a) establishment, construction and equipment; (b) establishment operation and sanitation; (c) the cleaning, sanitizing, lubricating and maintenance of establishment equipment and facilities, and insect and animal pest control; (d) fish and fishery products packaging, labelling or ingredient storage rooms or areas in the establishment; and (e) the system for tracing fish to its first destination; “processing area” means an area of a registered establishment that is used for the processing or storage of fish or fishery products and any other area designated as a processing area in a food safety program; “producer” means the last person who processed fish prior to its importation into, or exportation out of, Belize; “product description” means a form on which are recorded the characteristics of a particular fish product, including– (a) the product name; (b) the source of the raw material used in producing the product; (c) those characteristics that affect safety and may influence the growth of disease-causing pathogens; (d) the ingredients that are added to the product; (e) the packaging of the product; (f) if applicable, directions to the consumer as to the preparation required for consumption or whether the product is ready-to-eat; (g) the product’s shelf life; (h) where the product is intended to be sold; and (i) labelling instructions as may be applicable for safe product distribution and storage; “ready-to-eat fish” means any fish, other than canned fish and live shellfish that does not require preparation except thawing or reheating before consumption; “registered establishment” means a freezer-factory vessel, barge, onshore plant, building or premise where fish or fishery product are processed or stored for export or local sale and that is registered pursuant to regulation 26 (6); “registration certificate” means a certificate issued by the Authority to a facility that certifies that the establishment meets the conditions of registration; “sanitation program” means a written program developed in respect of a registered establishment or in respect of the establishment, conveyance or equipment of a holder of a fish export licence, to ensure that the employees of the establishment or the users of the conveyance or equipment, as the case may be, use proper sanitation and hygiene practices, and that the establishment, grounds or conveyance under the control of the operator or the equipment and conveyances of the holder are maintained in a clean and sanitary condition and free from serious contamination and insect and animal pests; “serious contamination” means any condition or deficiency that results, or is likely to result, in an unacceptable risk to the consumer or in tainted, decomposed or unwholesome fish or fishery products; “shellfish” means all species of bivalve molluscs of the class Bivalvia and all marine, carnivorous species of the class Gastropoda, either shucked or in the shell, in whole or in part, excluding the adductor muscles of scallops and the meat of geoducks; “shrimp cocktail” means shrimp meat packed with sauce, spices, seasonings or flavourings or any combination thereof; “support area” means an area of a registered establishment that is not a processing area and any other area designated as a support area in a food safety program, or an area that is used for– (a) the storage of materials and ingredients used in fish processing; (b) the maintenance of records for a food safety program; (c) employee sanitation, personal hygiene or a change room; “tainted”, with respect to fish or fishery product, means fish or fishery product that is rancid or has an abnormal odour or flavour; “unwholesome”, with respect to fish or fishery product means fish or fishery product that has in or upon it bacteria of public health significance or substances toxic or aesthetically offensive to man.