Hydrolysed proteins - tighter labelling
following revelations in the UK that chicken has been bulked up
with water and hydrolysed beef and pork proteins - without the
appropriate labelling.
Ingredients and labelling thereof hit the news again this week following revelations in the UK that chicken has been bulked up with water and hydrolysed beef and pork proteins - without the appropriate labelling.
The issue reached a head last week when a special edition of BBC's Panorama broadcast, entitled 'The chicken run', highlighted how chicken products from the Netherlands continue to contain proteins unknown to the authorities and consumers in Britain and Ireland.
"The Chicken Run" investigated the use of hydrolysed pork and beef proteins as water-binding agents to greatly increase the water content of frozen chicken fillets, imported from the Far East. The hydrolysed proteins were produced by a specialised process.
But this is not a new issue. Two surveys on the subject were carried out in the UK in December 2001 and March 2003 by the UK Food Standards Agency and two surveys in Ireland - Food Standards Authority Ireland - in May 2002 and March 2003.
Of 130 samples in total, 65 claimed to have more meat than was the case, 20 contained pork DNA, seven contained beef DNA and four contained both pork and beef DNA.
But, pressure on Europe from these two food safety agencies appears to have paid off. According to a statement from the FSA this week, chicken producers will soon be forced to show exactly how much water they are adding to chicken meat under new, tighter, rules being drawn up by the EU Consumer Commissioner David Byrne.
Under the European Commission's new plans if a chicken product contains water or an ingredient from any other animal, it would have to be declared and displayed prominently on the labelling.
