NO MORE BEEF IN MUTTON
Merely reading this article enraged me so much that I had to blog about
it. Please beware when purchasing from the butchers you trust & you think
you know!!
“The new regulations governing the
labelling and advertising of food products came into effect last month, forcing
food makers to come up with labels which reveal a lot more about what’s in
their products than before.
That’s great news for consumers, but for some, the new, more revealing
labels have made them realise, for the first time, what they’ve really been
buying - and eating - all this time.
As a devout Hindu, Ashmina Maharaj of Umkomaas does not eat beef in accordance with her religion.
For years she's bought products labelled “mutton sausages” and “mutton mince” from Bluff Meat Supply’s Kingsburgh branch, believing the only meat in them to be mutton, as the labels didn’t say otherwise.
But recently she couldn’t find any mutton sausages in the butchery, so she made enquiries and was told they’d never sold pure mutton sausages - they had always been a mutton-beef combination.
Apparently this is a common practice in the industry, because of the high cost of lamb.
Bluff Meat Supply’s new label, on the same product, describes the sausages as Mutton Beef.
I found two different labels on the same product in the company’s Pinetown branch this week.
One stated just 'Mutton Beef', along with date it was packed and its weight and price.
As a devout Hindu, Ashmina Maharaj of Umkomaas does not eat beef in accordance with her religion.
For years she's bought products labelled “mutton sausages” and “mutton mince” from Bluff Meat Supply’s Kingsburgh branch, believing the only meat in them to be mutton, as the labels didn’t say otherwise.
But recently she couldn’t find any mutton sausages in the butchery, so she made enquiries and was told they’d never sold pure mutton sausages - they had always been a mutton-beef combination.
Apparently this is a common practice in the industry, because of the high cost of lamb.
Bluff Meat Supply’s new label, on the same product, describes the sausages as Mutton Beef.
I found two different labels on the same product in the company’s Pinetown branch this week.
One stated just 'Mutton Beef', along with date it was packed and its weight and price.
The other has that information, plus a full breakdown of the
ingredients, including the fact that it’s 38% mutton and 34% beef.
Ashmina is
horrified that she’s been unwittingly eating beef, in these products, for
years.
Responding, Mark Bielovich said the company had never made any claim to have produced or processed any product to conform to any specific religious beliefs and that its labels had never stated that the mutton sausage was pure mutton.
But he confirmed that the old label on the mutton beef sausages had made no reference to fact that there was beef mixed in with the mutton.
“We have many Hindu customers, many of whom would ask about the contents of processed products, thereby eliminating any confusion and ensuring that the processed product that they are purchasing does not contain an element that would defy their religious belief,” he said.
The company had always been willing to supply a specific product on request, he said.
Selling for at least R72 a kilo, pure mutton mince is significantly more expensive that mutton/beef blends.
“We sincerely apologise to Mrs Maharaj for any misunderstanding that has occurred in the past,” Bielovich said, “and would agree that the new legislation will allow the consumer to make more informed decisions as to the specifics of what they are purchasing,” Bielovich said.
Asked why she never queried the contents of the so-called mutton sausages before, given their relatively low price, Ashmina said she trusted the information which was printed on the labels.
As for why some labels on the mutton beef sausages in the Bluff Meat Supply store I visited had a full ingredients list, while others did not, Bielovich said the company had introduced the new full-disclosure labels at the beginning of the year, but that the labelling machine had been out of order for a short time, so the fresh meat labelling machine - which doesn’t produce detailed labels - had had to be used instead.
Responding, Mark Bielovich said the company had never made any claim to have produced or processed any product to conform to any specific religious beliefs and that its labels had never stated that the mutton sausage was pure mutton.
But he confirmed that the old label on the mutton beef sausages had made no reference to fact that there was beef mixed in with the mutton.
“We have many Hindu customers, many of whom would ask about the contents of processed products, thereby eliminating any confusion and ensuring that the processed product that they are purchasing does not contain an element that would defy their religious belief,” he said.
The company had always been willing to supply a specific product on request, he said.
Selling for at least R72 a kilo, pure mutton mince is significantly more expensive that mutton/beef blends.
“We sincerely apologise to Mrs Maharaj for any misunderstanding that has occurred in the past,” Bielovich said, “and would agree that the new legislation will allow the consumer to make more informed decisions as to the specifics of what they are purchasing,” Bielovich said.
Asked why she never queried the contents of the so-called mutton sausages before, given their relatively low price, Ashmina said she trusted the information which was printed on the labels.
As for why some labels on the mutton beef sausages in the Bluff Meat Supply store I visited had a full ingredients list, while others did not, Bielovich said the company had introduced the new full-disclosure labels at the beginning of the year, but that the labelling machine had been out of order for a short time, so the fresh meat labelling machine - which doesn’t produce detailed labels - had had to be used instead.
The new
labelling regulations include what’s called QUID - Quantitative Ingredient
Declarations.
What that means is if a food manufacturer emphasises a key ingredient in the name or description of a product, they have to say was the ingoing percentage of that ingredient is.
So in the case of mutton mince, the percentage of mutton in that mix must be revealed.
I did a whip around a few stand-alone butcheries and supermarket butcheries this week, and found that, by and large, the labels on mince and sausage packs are compliant.
They reveal the types of meat in the product and their various percentages.
At Checkers in Davenport Square, I found a pack of “mutton mince” at R80 a kilo, but no indication of the percentage of mutton in the mix.
What that means is if a food manufacturer emphasises a key ingredient in the name or description of a product, they have to say was the ingoing percentage of that ingredient is.
So in the case of mutton mince, the percentage of mutton in that mix must be revealed.
I did a whip around a few stand-alone butcheries and supermarket butcheries this week, and found that, by and large, the labels on mince and sausage packs are compliant.
They reveal the types of meat in the product and their various percentages.
At Checkers in Davenport Square, I found a pack of “mutton mince” at R80 a kilo, but no indication of the percentage of mutton in the mix.
When I
asked a butchery employee, I was told it was 100% mutton - and the price
appears to back that up, but the label ought to be clearer about this.
Across the way at Dirk’s Meats, I found a pack labelled Sausage Meat with a prominent Mutton sticker on it, selling for just R36 a kilo.
Across the way at Dirk’s Meats, I found a pack labelled Sausage Meat with a prominent Mutton sticker on it, selling for just R36 a kilo.
When I
asked whether it was pure mutton, I was told there was beef in the mix as well.
Owner Peter Limbouris later conceded that the label didn’t comply with the regulations, and said the butchery was in the process of converting to the full disclosure labels, many of which are already in the store.
Right, so what do we need to take out of all of this?
All food labels should comply with the new labelling regs by now, but if you’re buying a sausage or mince product that’s labelled, mutton, say, and there is no breakdown of ingredients, don’t assume it’s pure mutton.
Ask the butchery staff.
The new full disclosure labels are there for your benefit, so use them - if you’re buying sausages, be they chicken, pork, or mutton, don’t only check what kind of meats are in them, but check out the percentages too, because that’s what determines the quality of the product.
If the price of the pack seems really good, it could be that the meat content is relatively low.
For example, Woolworths 500 gram pack of Porkies, at R24,99, are R10 cheaper than the same size pack of Woolies’ pork bangers. But if you examine the label, you’ll find that the Porkies are only 44% pork, while the bangers are 75% pork.
As always, knowledge is power. And as they say, the devil is in the small print!”
Owner Peter Limbouris later conceded that the label didn’t comply with the regulations, and said the butchery was in the process of converting to the full disclosure labels, many of which are already in the store.
Right, so what do we need to take out of all of this?
All food labels should comply with the new labelling regs by now, but if you’re buying a sausage or mince product that’s labelled, mutton, say, and there is no breakdown of ingredients, don’t assume it’s pure mutton.
Ask the butchery staff.
The new full disclosure labels are there for your benefit, so use them - if you’re buying sausages, be they chicken, pork, or mutton, don’t only check what kind of meats are in them, but check out the percentages too, because that’s what determines the quality of the product.
If the price of the pack seems really good, it could be that the meat content is relatively low.
For example, Woolworths 500 gram pack of Porkies, at R24,99, are R10 cheaper than the same size pack of Woolies’ pork bangers. But if you examine the label, you’ll find that the Porkies are only 44% pork, while the bangers are 75% pork.
As always, knowledge is power. And as they say, the devil is in the small print!”
-Sam
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