Meat product labelling in the UK
Hi everyone
a quick question for UK experts please
a product is named as ''100% beef burger'' however, the ingredient list shows meat as 97%, when I questioned the supplier they replied ''anything above 94% meat is deemed to be 100% product''
is this a recognised industry practice or a regulatory principal in the UK, if so, what piece of legislation please?
Regards
Hi Mohammad Gamal
The following is paragraph from UK Regulation 2014 regarding meat product composition.
Meat content declaration
Any ingredient mentioned in the name of the food, emphasised on the food, or generally associated with the food must be given a 'quantitative ingredient declaration' (QUID), which states how much of the ingredient is in the food in the form of a percentage of the entire product. If specifying the species or cut of the meat (for example 'Pork sausages') you will need to declare how much is present.
QUID calculations are done at the mixing bowl stage of production and can be calculated as follows: weight of meat divided by total weight of ingredients multiplied by 100.
The easiest way to give a QUID is in the ingredients list (for example, 'Ingredients: Pork (42%)') but you may also give it in the name of the food (for example, 'Pork sausage - contains 42% pork').
Any fat and connective tissue over the permitted limits is not meat and you must account for this in your calculations.
Where multiple types of meat have been used you must declare the content of each. for more information please vist the following link
It has been a while since I have done label approvals, but there is sometimes confusion (deliberate or otherwise) as to what the 100% refers.
The meat may come from various animals, but in order to state 100% beef, all the meat must be from beef, There may be other non-meat ingredients which will reduce the overall percentage, but the statement of 100% refers to the species of meat and not necessarily to the fact that there are no other ingredients included. For instance it is common to see 100% beef burgers which contain flavourings, onions, stabilisers etc.
There are also rules relating to the type of meat material such as the inclusion of mechanically removed meats (MRM)
The 94% rule described is not something I have come across.