EU introduces tighter meat labelling
products from 1 July 2003. The ruling has been passed with the aim
of giving consumers better information on meat products.
New stricter EC rules on labelling meat-based products are to be introduced from 1 July 2003. The Commission believes that this will give consumers better information on what they are eating.
The EU believes that consumers generally perceive meat to mean muscle-meat. As a consequence, the new definition from July provide consumers with clear information about whether they are eating muscle-meat, fat or offal.
For example, the directive restricts the definition of meat to the skeletal-attached muscles, which is a major development. Other parts of animals for human consumption, such as offal (including the heart, intestine and liver) or fat, will now have to be labelled as such and not as meat.
The directive applies to products that contain meat as an ingredient, while meat sold without further processing is excluded. Affected products include sausages, pâté, cooked meats, prepared dishes and canned meat.
Finally, the definition excludes mechanically separated meat. In beef, mechanically separated meat has been banned entirely due to BSE. For other species, mechanically separated meat will have to be labelled separately and cannot form part of the meat content of any products in which it occurs.
A previous directive designed to tighten up the definition of the term meat for the labelling of meat-based products originally entered into force on 1 January with a double circulation period of affected products until the end of June 2003.
Within this directive, provision was made for a six-month transitional period from 1 January to 30 June 2003, which has allowed the meat industry to conform to the new requirements that will be brought into force next week.
David Byrne, EU commissioner for health and consumer protection said: "Clear labelling is the key to empowering consumers to make their own choices about what they buy and what they eat. The directive is clear on the need to indicate which species the meat comes from, so as to distinguish for example pig meat from beef meat."
Enforcement and possible sanctions arising from infringements of EU legislation relating to the labelling of foodstuffs are the responsibility of the Member States. Some Member States previously adopted their own definitions of meat for labelling purposes, but these definitions will now have to be harmonised at EU level.
A separate initiative to improve the labelling of chickens will be proposed soon.
"A problem was raised recently in the UK and Ireland, where there were cases of processed chicken products being wrongly labelled," said Byrne.
"In these cases, chicken fillets were found with traces of pork and beef proteins as well as added water and ingredients serving to aid water retention. I have therefore decided that there is a need for further labelling requirements for chicken and other meat preparations.
"I will propose to the Member States that we create legislation requiring the explicit mention of, for example, chicken breast with added water on the food label."
