4. LEY 9 DE 1979.pdf (421.18 KB)
This law lays out the general rules that are the basis for “the provisions and regulations necessary to preserve, restore and improve sanitary conditions in relation to human health. It also contains the procedures and measures that must be adopted for the regulation, legalization and control of the discharges of waste and materials that affect or may affect the sanitary conditions of the Environment.”
In its Article 307, Ley 9 establishes that the slaughter of animals for human consumption can only be done in authorized slaughterhouses. Slaughterhouses require approval for its location, design and construction from the Ministry of Health or its delegated authority.
Some of the requirements of this law establish that slaughterhouses have “separate corrals for each animal species with sufficient capacity and facility for ante mortem examination and to isolate suspect or sick animals.” Article 315 states that slaughterhouses have separate slaughter sections for each animal species. The Ministry of Health, or the entity delegated, indicate the cases in which the use of the same section is permitted for the slaughter or slaughter of animals of different species.
Other provisions in this law regulate ante and post mortem inspections. The ante mortem inspection section requires “all the animals to be slaughtered to be subjected to ante mortem sanitary examination in the slaughterhouse corrals. The sacrifice will only be allowed when authorized by the competent official health authority.” It has provisions regulating the slaughter of animals, where the main focus is the the management of the different parts of the slaughtered animals. In the post mortem examination phase, “All the animals have to be subjected by the sanitary authority to a complete macroscopic examination of their ganglia, viscera and tissues. Such examination has to be complemented with confirmatory laboratory tests, immediately after the sacrifice when it is deemed convenient.” This law also regulates matters related to the transportation of meat, pig and chicken slaughterhouses, meat and milk derivatives, fishery products, and eggs. For the slaughter of chickens, Article 351 requires that under any reason chickens make it alive to the scalding phase.