The Regulation on Specific Hygiene Rules for Food of Animal Origin requires open meat and packaged meat to be stored and carried separately (Article 17 for red meat, Article 22 for poultry and rabbit meat). The requirement is not applied where storage is at different times, or where the packaging material and storage arrangement are no source of contamination for the meat. That is the text after the amendment of 17 January 2014, and its last sentence carries the rule into carriage: this also applies to carriage operations.
On a vehicle, dividing the time is impossible on most rounds, because the load leaves together. That leaves a separate space. In a container with a lid, the space holding open product is shut with its own lid and is separated from door openings and from the air around the rest of the load. On a round carrying open product, the number of containers therefore comes out of the separation calculation before the volume calculation: at least as many closed spaces as product groups are needed, and if they fall short, the trip is split.
The separate-store requirement reaching into carriage bears directly on how two regimes in one vehicle is arranged.
Article 13 of the Food Hygiene Regulation draws the general frame: where food is carried at the same time as non-food materials or different foods, the products are adequately separated, and vehicles and containers are effectively cleaned between different loads. On the loading list, write the product line, whether it is open or packaged, the container ID and position, and the cleaning in between; the separation is then shown in a single step at an inspection. At handover, compare the plan with the actual layout.
