FDA draft: Restructured meat products must be clearly labeled, but hamburger patties and ham gongwan (pork balls) are not covered by this rule
Shusen Company added feed-grade powdered beef tallow to restructured meat and sold it to steak houses across Taiwan, China, and only then did consumers realize that the cheap steaks they usually ate at night markets and street stalls were mostly restructured meat. Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration announced the draft of the "Principles for Labeling the Names of Restructured Meat Products," specifying that restaurants, night markets, snack shops and the like must clearly indicate on menus or in stores whether meat slices are restructured meat, but hamburger patties, ham, meatballs and the like are not covered by this restriction.
Pan Chih-kuan, head of the FDA's Food Division, stressed that restructured meat is not something that has only now begun to be regulated; packaged foods have always had to be labeled. If restaurants and bulk foods use restructured meat as an ingredient, but the product container or packaging, menu, standing sign or hanging sign does not fully disclose correct information, misleading consumers into thinking it is not restructured meat, this involves false labeling or advertising and can be fined 4 to 4 million yuan. "This draft simply more clearly defines the scope and manner in which restructured meat must be labeled."
According to the draft, the principle for labeling restructured meat is: "The product's appearance is a meat (fish) steak or meat (fish) chunk, and it is likely to cause consumers to mistake it for a single piece of meat (fish)." Moreover, restructured meat undergoes multiple processing steps, increasing the probability of contamination, and must be fully cooked before eating. The draft also stipulates that operators must add a warning such as "for cooked consumption only" or wording of equivalent meaning.
In other words, if consumers order a medium-rare steak at a restaurant but see that it is labeled restructured meat, the operator has already violated the law, and consumers can report it directly to the health authorities.
This labeling principle excludes processed minced products such as meatballs, hot dogs, ham, hamburger patties, sausages, fish balls and fish cakes. Pan Chih-kuan said that this is because these items are inherently restructured, and consumers are well aware of this, so only whole meat slices that are likely to mislead are regulated.
Because whether bulk and restaurant operators have labeled, or have falsely labeled, can only be known after the food is cooked and served, the FDA encourages consumers who discover violations to report them directly to the local health bureau.