Consumer groups urge completion of labeling rule
November 17, 2014 | 05:03 PM
Members of the Safe Food Coalition sent Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack a letter today urging him to finalize a rule to label mechanically tenderized beef products by the end of the year and send it to the Office of Management and Budget.
“If the rule is not finalized before December 31, 2014, then consumers will not see these labels until 2018,” the groups said in a news release. “FSIS’ new rule about uniform compliance dates for meat and poultry labeling require all new labels to be implemented concurrently every two years.”
“In the current timeframe for implementation, labels finalized by December 31, 2014 will go into effect on January 1, 2016. Any labeling changes after December 31 will be implemented in the next cycle. Delays by USDA and OMB in finalizing the current proposed rule could mean that a proactive and preventive label, designed to protect public health, would not be implemented until 2018, leaving consumers vulnerable and in the dark for far too long.”
The groups said it is important to inform consumers that the beef has been mechanically tenderized because the process — often used on less expensive steaks and roasts to increase tenderness — involves repeatedly piercing them with small needles or blades, “thereby increasing the risk that pathogens located on the surface of the product will be transferred to the interior.”
“After treatment, these non-intact steaks and roasts have a greater risk of being internally contaminated, yet they look no different than non-treated product.”
▪ Letter to Secretary Vilsack
“If the rule is not finalized before December 31, 2014, then consumers will not see these labels until 2018,” the groups said in a news release. “FSIS’ new rule about uniform compliance dates for meat and poultry labeling require all new labels to be implemented concurrently every two years.”
“In the current timeframe for implementation, labels finalized by December 31, 2014 will go into effect on January 1, 2016. Any labeling changes after December 31 will be implemented in the next cycle. Delays by USDA and OMB in finalizing the current proposed rule could mean that a proactive and preventive label, designed to protect public health, would not be implemented until 2018, leaving consumers vulnerable and in the dark for far too long.”
The groups said it is important to inform consumers that the beef has been mechanically tenderized because the process — often used on less expensive steaks and roasts to increase tenderness — involves repeatedly piercing them with small needles or blades, “thereby increasing the risk that pathogens located on the surface of the product will be transferred to the interior.”
“After treatment, these non-intact steaks and roasts have a greater risk of being internally contaminated, yet they look no different than non-treated product.”
▪ Letter to Secretary Vilsack
