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Third of meat products sold in supermarkets are mislabelled, finds food watchdog
Last updated at 15:37pm on 18.04.08
An investigation found that a third of products such as sausages contain other meats not included on the label
An investigation found that many items, such as sausages, illegally contain types of meat the consumer would not expect to find.
Yesterday, experts warned that this could have "serious consequences" for those trying to avoid specific meats for dietary or religious reasons.
Some may have been told to avoid red meat to help reduce their weight and cholesterol levels, for example, while Muslims are forbidden by the Koran to eat pork.
One undercover survey found that out of 109 meat product samples purchased, 38 were "adulterated".
Minced lamb was the most likely to have been contaminated, with two thirds of samples containing other types of meat.
Yesterday Staffordshire County Council, which carried out its survey across the West Midlands, warned businesses in the meat trade to stay within the law - or face a fine of up to £20,000.
"Customers buying food rely on the labels and descriptions of the food made by the business," said its spokesman, councillor Carol Dean.
"This is particularly important for customers who wish to avoid particular species of meat due to religious or dietary reasons.
"Trading Standards are keen to work with businesses to ensure that food is correctly described."
The investigation discovered that mince, sausages and samosas often illegally contained other types of meat.
In the West Midlands investigation, Trading Standards officers purchased more than 100 meat product samples, which were then analysed by experts to check whether the meat named on the label was the only type present.
Minced lamb was the worst offender, with two thirds of the samples containing beef, pork, or both beef and pork.
"Halal" - meat that is prepared in accordance with Muslim law - was just as likely to be contaminated as any other meat products, according to the survey.
However, none of the seven samples purchased were found to contain pork.
The labelling of meat products is regulated by the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Meat Products (England) Regulations 2003.
According to the law, where a product is described by the name of one type of meat, it must contain only that meat.
For example, beef mince must contain only beef, pork sausages must contain only pork, and lamb samosas must contain only lamb.
Even where other types of meat are listed in small print in the ingredients, the manufacturer will still be at fault.
A spokesman for the investigation explained: "You can't call something a pork sausage when it is not wholly a pork sausage."
A spokesman for the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders said: "Contamination is not normally a deliberate ploy by unscrupulous traders, as they would have nothing to gain from it.
"It is just a fact that in butcher shops you have different species of meat and you can have a minute trace of one meat on another - or it might not be practical for a small butcher shop to have three different mincers."
A spokesman for the Trading Standards Institute said: "It is about enabling consumers to make an informed choice about the food they eat.
"It is important that when you buy something, it is exactly what it says it is. Some people cannot eat certain foods for religious reasons and we have to be sensitive to that.
"Others have allergies and others find that certain foods such as pork upset their metabolism."
Reader views (1)
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Good to see that New Labour are so tough on food standards - not!
This simply makes a mockery of all the government's food labelling legislation!
But what have the Watchdog and Regulator been doing all this time?
No wonder the supermarkets make such gigantic profits, they simply stuff "any old meat" into their pre-sealed cellophane-wrapped packets!
Clearly, customers can have no trust in supermarkets whatsoever after this latest revelation!
When will supermarkets "be forced to disclose" on their fresh chicken packaging:-
[1] the age that the chicken was slaughtered (e.g,. just 22 days old);
[2] whether it has a decent life or was forced to stand in its own faeces for its entire life; and
[3] what was included in the chickens feed to bulk it up so quickly in preparation for slaughter?
How can the government expect the public to be "health conscious" if they themselves permit the operation of such lax and indeed incompetent basic food standard controls?
- Fraser, Telford Park
18°c
