UK considering detailed labelling of meat

The British Government is discussing a proposal, the implementation of which will result in more detailed labelling of meat in the country.

While currently meat labels read ‘Born, Raised and Slaughtered in Britain’, it is being proposed to include the area of the UK where the product has been produced.

The government is also in talks to label dairy products like cheese and butter with ‘Made from British milk,’ reported The Independent.

Head of food labelling at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Stephen Pugh was quoted as saying that there was a need to label alcoholic products too.

He said: "We want to see voluntary labelling of dairy products." On the issue of alcohol labelling he added "It’s a public health issue. People are not aware of the number of calories they intake when they drink alcohol."

While the framework to control labeling fraud has already been created in Europe after the 2013 horsemeat scandal, deputy head of the EC’s food fraud unit Eric Marin said that there was a need to deliver the framework at an international level to prevent further scandals.

Marin said: "We live in a globalised world. This is the internationalisation of food. More and more we will have this widescale fraud over the world. We have to be vigilant and exchange information."

Recently, a hepatitis A outbreak in Australia linked to frozen berries from China led to people demanding country of origin food labels on their food products.

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Image: The proposed labelling on dairy and meat products would specify the region of the UK that the product was produced in. Photo: courtesy of Supertrooper/freedigitalphotos.net.