UK processor at centre of European row
Newby Foods uses a novel method of removing meat from butchered bones which is then pressed through small holes to remove any bone, gristle or sinew which it was originally allowed to label as “de-sinewed meat”.
However, in April last year, the Food Standards Agency, following European Commission pressure, imposed a moratorium on Newby producing de-sinewed meat from beef and lamb bones and reclassified its pork and poultry products as “mechanically separated meat” (MSM) – a move which Newby claimed cost the company £720,000 in the first six weeks. It accused the FSA of allowing itself to be “bullied” into kowtowing to EU threats.
Earlier this year, High Court judge, Mr Justice Edwards Stewart, referred the dispute to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a definitive ruling on whether the company’s products can be sold as ‘meat preparations’.
However, with such a process taking a long time, in July, the same judge helped the company by allowing it to sell 51t of de-sinewed lamb from its cold store for use in cat and dog food and ruled it could continue to produce de-sinewed pork and poultry meats – and sell them as meat preparations – until the ECJ gives a decision. However he stopped short of allowing the company to apply the process to beef and lamb production.
Now, in a new ruling, the judge revelead his decision brought a furious response from the European Commission which applied to intervene in the court dispute.
However, expressing his “considerable sympathy” for Newby, the judge said the Commission had not come up with any “cogent” reasons why he should refuse assistance to the company in relation to its pork and poultry products, and pointed to evidence that meat suppliers in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands continued to produce de-sinewed pork and poultry with labelling it as MSM.
However, he refused to lift the ban on ruminant products, and said: “This is a very sensitive market in the light of recent scandals.
“I find that there is a risk, albeit a very low one, that if the company were allowed to produce de-sinewed meat from lamb bones, this could produce some form of reaction from one or more other member states of the EU that could have the potential to damage the UK meat industry.”
