USDA Labelling for ‘Ends and Pieces’ in RTE Deli Meats

Hi everyone

Could anyone explain to me the labelling for ends and pieces?

Let's suppose I'm running a pre-sliced RTE deli meat facility (prosciutto pre-sliced, salami pre-sliced) under USDA inspection. During processing I have slices out of specifications and logs ends. 

After vacuum packaging, I want to sell them to other official establishments (e.g. not for retail sale, so for further processing).

I have many type of cooked ham (plain, rosemary, with truffle and so on and so forth).

Could I group them together and label only the external container with a label which state the ingredients for each type of prosciutto?

Besides this, the label will bear bb, net weight and so on and so forth.

Thank you

I will let others specify on the specific labelling legislation but from a risk point of view, I'd include the type on each pack as otherwise you will have incorrect ingredients.  I would also want the packages to say on the direct packaging around the meat what it is and what it's for.  This is a prime risk for food fraud.  If I was a purchaser buying that, what would stop me simply deboxing it, and either selling as is or slicing then selling.  If you mean "for further processing" as "it needs to be cooked" make that SUPER clear on the direct packaging which is touching the meat.  It doesn't stop some level of fraud but at least it makes it harder and people have less of a "I didn't know" defence.

Also be super careful about how you collect the ends in your factory.  Meat slicers are notorious for Listeria contamination (too many incidents of this over the years) so even if you are selling these on for cooking, please don't leave them unchilled for long.  The ends must be "seen" by your staff as a viable human food product not "waste" so think about how you collect these so that the team are reminded of that.