The meat preparation rules "might be milder"

The sausage producers discuss about the modification of the rules for the meat preparation.

It is about a loosening of the rules in the field after the European norms which allow ulterior the sausage manufacture something cheaper to compete with the ones from abroad without, however, endangering the health of the population, support the domestic producers.

The quality meat norms are stricter in Romania than those in other European countries.

The current standards were incumbent a few years ago by the Romanian Meat Association( ARC) and later became compulsory norm.

The Romanian Meat Association ( ARC) wants that the rules for the Romanian producers to be relaxed, in the sense of not being more restrictive than in other countries from which we import meat preparations.

“Romania, The Romanian Meat Association ( ARC) has imposed some standards applicable only on the territory of Romania, some net superior quality standards compared with what happens in the majority of countries in Europe. We followed those standards.

“The idea at the moment in which the standards were introduced was just the idea of protection, we can say that we respect some standards and that our products are qualitatively better than other products, even if they bear the same name”, said Sorin Minea.

He noted that the decline of the standards in order to fight with the community is a mistake and that Romania must maintain some standards higher than those from other countries.

The discussions initiated by the Romanian Meat Association are justified through the fact that the Romanian producers sustain that they are unable to compete on price with products from abroad who have less restrictive rules.

Lower prices on meat

The norms easing in Romania would lead to lower price of meat.

The lower price is achieved through the addition of water and vegetable or animal proteins, said Sorin Minea.

“The product is finally prigged by water but not as the press says. You can not inject water in a product more than 10%. The meat is 60 percent water, so a product with 60 percent water is a product that has not been yet, it has not been removed” said Sorin Minea.

He stated that the addition of water may be a maximum of 10%.

“What is less than 60 percent dried and more than 60 percent has a small addition but you can do an addition of up to 10 percent, which is normal to the ham poultry, the humidity is raised, it goes to 70 percent and then I need to fill in something else in the product which retains the water, so the Romanian should learn to read the label because they are non-toxic products, they are not harmful to health, including soy protein, which you said, that retains the water”.

“They are dried, they retain the water", said Sorin Minea.

Seemingly similar products, sometimes even with the same name are sold at prices which can vary significantly due to its composition, that is the recipe for manufacturing.

Broadly, the cheaper is the product, the smaller is the meat percentage .

This is replaced with water and proteins which may be extracted from vegetable, usually soybeans, or they may have animal provenience such as the mechanical boned meat or crackling.

Translated by Anamaria Petrache
MTTLC, Bucharest University