§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what tissues and organs of a cow can be labelled as beef; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RyderIn common with all foodstuffs, butchers' cuts of meat and meat products are subject to the general labelling provisions of the Food Labelling Regulations 1984, which require the name of food products to be sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food and to enable the food to be distinguished from products with which it could be confused.
Under the Meat Products and Spreadable Fish Products Regulations 1984, "meat" is defined for the purposes of those regulations as "flesh including fat, and the skin, rind, gristle and sinew in amounts naturally associated with the flesh used" and may include diaphragm, head meat, heart, kidney, liver, pancreas, tail meat, thymus, and tongue. These tissues and organs may be described as beef, if appropriate, in the statutory minimum meat content declaration.