The Law
All suppliers of red meat are required by law to provide key information to caterers on pre-packed meat by clear labelling. This is particularly important in relation to origin, content of meat and product weights.
AHDB advice
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Meat Services Information provided on packaging and labelling is for everyone’s benefit, but mostly yours as the buyer. Be sure to familiarise yourself with the basic packaging information and, upon delivery, check that it matches your order and specification. Always check the product label and the product match, and always record the delivery temperature. To quote AHDB, "If your supplier cannot provide information about the country of origin of its products – then change supplier!"
Trading Standards requirements
Are you sure the steaks you serve are the same weight as described on your menu? Good butchers ensure that all the meat they supply falls within EU legislation for portion weights but it is your responsibility to check that weights stated on your menu are accurate. Trading standards advice is to perform regular weight checks on meat supplied to you by your butcher and to add a statement to your menu similar to this: “All stated weights are approximate uncooked weights”.
It is not uncommon for chilled meat and poultry supplied by catering butchers to have been previously frozen. Trading Standard’s view is that it is misleading (and hence illegal) for a product to be described as “fresh” if it has been previously frozen. Check with your supplier whether any of their products may have been frozen.
Chicken supplied into the catering industry may contain added water (perhaps up to 40%) and protein derived from vegetables or other animal species. Trading Standards is becoming increasingly hot on insisting that the added water and protein is clearly stated on menus and labels. Check the labels on your poultry products (fresh and frozen) to see if there is any added water.
Always check the product label and the product match
What to look out for
To help you avoid the pitfalls of buying meat products, here are the legal requirements you should be looking for, using a Prime Meats label as an example above right.
Required by law
1 Product description/cut
2 Product weight
3 Storage temperature
4 Use by date (best before if frozen)
• Supplier name and number (on outer packaging, not label)
• Supplier address (on outer packaging, not label)
5 Identification mark (an oval) for the approved premises where the meat product was finally packaged and labelled)
Required by law (beef and veal only)
6 Batch number or traceability code
7 Country of origin *
8 Name of all countries in which the animal was raised
9 Country of slaughter/slaughterhouse approval number
10 Country of cutting/cutting plant approval number
11 Country of packing/packing plant number
NB * Labels may just indicate 'origin' if the animal was born, reared, slaughtered and processed in the same country
Additional information (not required by law)
12 Handling information
13 Accreditation scheme marks
14 Product safety information
