Cape Town – Parliament has mandated three government departments to deliver a joint strategy for the correct labelling of meat products to advance food security in three months’ time.
Issuing this instruction on Tuesday, Lulu Johnson, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said that the appropriate “labelling and safety of food were fundamental”. The education of consumers would be a by-product of this process.
Johnson made his remarks after presentations from academics from the Universities of Stellenbosch and the Western Cape as well as the Departments of Trade and Industry, Health, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The academics told the portfolio committee of the levels of contamination they had found in sausage, mince, biltong, dry wors (droe wors) and carpaccio. Research showed that kangaroo, water buffalo, pork, chicken, zebra, donkey, giraffe and blesbok were used in the produce tested. But the labels did not name any of these substances.
Professor Louw Hoffman, of the University of Stellenbosch, said he had carried out his research between April and August 2012, just after new regulations had come into being, to see how complaint the industry was. He examined sausage and mince. He did not target specific supermarkets, because the aim was not to name and shame but to create a public awareness.
A total of 139 products were tested, with 95 of them containing undeclared species. They were not unsafe but the consumer had a right to know what they were buying.
He found that donkey meat, pork, imported water buffalo, which at that stage was not classified as beef, and chicken had been added to some of these products.
He was also concerned that despite government regulations saying this must be done, labels on packets did not name allergens - substance that can cause an allergic reaction.
“If I’m not mistaken, about 20 percent of consumers could have allergic re actions to plant allergens used,” said Hoffman.
He said most of the big supermarkets were getting their houses in order because they could not afford to have their names tarnished.
“I’m more worried about the poor consumer. That’s where the focus is. Who’s going to look after the poor consumer? He’s got as much a right as a richer consumer to know what he’s eating.”
The University of the Western Cape’s Professor Maria Eugenia D’Amato tested biltong, smoked meat and carpaccio. She found traces of kangaroo, horse, donkey and zebra - an endangered species - had been used.
Members of the committee were united in their criticism of the scant information shown on food labels, stating that it was the poor who mainly consumed these products.
Acting DAFF Director-General Dr Botlhe Modisane also said that the issue was not one of safety but of labelling. “There’s a problem. Consumers were not aware of what they were eating. We need to plug that hole.”
However, Johnson called for a joint strategy to be delivered in three months’ time. He urged the three departments to work as one on the matter and to involve the researchers from the two universities.
He said it would be preferable if the ministers heading the three departments presented the joint strategy. - SAnews.gov.za
