Technical requirements of the health mark and practical arrangements for its application
Article 48
1. The official veterinarian shall supervise health marking and the marks used. 2. The official veterinarian shall ensure, in particular, that: (a) the health mark is applied only to domestic ungulates and farmed game mammals other than lagomorphs, having undergone ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection, and large wild game having undergone post mortem inspection, in accordance with Article 18(2)(a), (b) and (c) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, where there are no grounds for declaring the meat unfit for human consumption. However, the mark may be applied before the results of any examination for Trichinella and/or TSE testing are available, provided that the competent authorities introduced a system in place in the slaughterhouse or game-handling establishment ensuring that all parts of the animal can be traced, and no parts of the examined animals bearing the mark leave the slaughterhouse or game-handling establishment until a negative result has been obtained except when provided for in accordance with Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU) 2015/1375; (b) the health mark is applied on the external surface of the carcase, by stamping in ink or hot branding, in such a manner that, if carcases are cut in the slaughterhouse into half carcases or quarters, or half carcases are cut into three pieces, each piece bears a health mark. 3. The competent authorities shall ensure that the practical arrangements for the health mark are applied in accordance with Annex II. 4. The competent authorities shall ensure that meat from unskinned wild game does not bear a health mark until, after skinning in a game-handling establishment, it has undergone post-mortem inspection and been declared fit for human consumption.