Research call for poultry assessment

The results will help inform decisions related to risk management interventions. They will also support a case for the development of policy, both in relation to the FBO controls over this type of production and the type and level of official controls required.

Partially eviscerated (effilé) poultry is where the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, crop (a muscular pouch near the throat), proventriculus (part of the digestive system) and gizzard have been left inside the body cavity.

Regulation (EC) 853/2004 allows production of effilé poultry, provided it is authorised by the competent authority.

The UK has little experience of effilé poultry production, although trials have taken place in a few UK plants.

Proposals are invited to carry out a qualitative risk assessment of partially eviscerated (effilé) poultry and suggest alternative controls to address any significant and relevant public health risks.

Proposals sought will consider:

• details about the abnormalities that may not be identified in effilé as compared with fully eviscerated poultry
• the aetiology of the conditions that produce those abnormalities
• the public health implications of those conditions

It is thought that the project will take a maximum of eight to nine months, with a final report submitted to the Agency by the end of April 2014.

Applications should be submitted online using our electronic procurement system by 5pm on Wednesday, 10 April 2013. To find out more about this call for tender, you will need to register as a supplier on the FSA’s electronic tendering system, ePPS, via the link below.