Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requiresCAP. 211. “Act” means the Belize Agricultural Health Authority Act; “active principle” means any chemical substance which gives any product the nature of the pesticide or medicine specific to it; “animal” has the meaning assigned to it in the Act; “approved laboratory” means a laboratory approved by the Authority for the purpose of examining official samples in order to detect the presence of residues; “authority” means the Belize Agricultural Health Authority established under section 3 of the Act; “authorised officer” means an officer of the Authority designated for the purposes of these regulations; “biological residue” means the residue of any substance, including metabolic products; metabolites remaining in the tissues and organ of an animal after slaughter or processing, as a result of treatment or exposure of the animals to insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, organic or inorganic compound, hormone or hormone like substance, growth promoter, antibiotic, anthelmintic, tranquilizer or other therapeutic or prophylactic agents; “lot” means a quantity of a food material delivered at one time and known or presumed, by the sampling officer to have uniform characteristics such as origin, producer, variety, packer, type of packing, markings, consignor or other similar characteristics; “maximum residue limit” means the maximum concentration of a pesticide or veterinary drug residue legally permitted in or on a food or food commodity; Second Schedule. “official sample” means a sample taken by the Authority or an authorised officer thereof which bears, for the purpose of the examination of the residues or substances listed in the Second Schedule (livestock and poultry, fish and fishery products, milk, eggs, and farmed game), a reference to the species, the type, the quantity concerned, the method of collection and particulars identifying the sex of the animal, the origin of the animal, or the origin of the animal product; “pesticide” means any substance intended for preventing, destroying or controlling any pest or any vector of human, animal or plant disease and includes any substance intended for use as a plant growth regulator, defoliant, desiccant, agent for thinning fruit, or for preventing the premature fall of fruits, or a substance applied to crops either before or after harvest to protect the commodity from deterioration during storage and transportation, and any substance applied externally to animals for the control of ectoparasites; “tolerance level” means that level of biological residue, which does not render the meat, poultry, meat product, fish, fishery product, or other animal products such as milk, honey, unacceptable directly or indirectly for human consumption; 368 “withdrawal time” means the minimum period of time necessary for any substance used in the treatment of an animal to be eliminated or reduced to the tolerance level, so that on the day the animal is presented for slaughter or for processing, in the animal so treated or exposed to such substances, any residue will not render the meat or animal product harmful or unacceptable for human food.