BSE controls final report, 20 December 2000, section 14, The controls: Mechanically recovered meat
71. Mechanically recovered meat (MRM) is a product obtained by recovering residually adhering raw meat from bones under high pressure after other boning processes have been completed. It has been made from beef, pig, sheep or chicken bones. It is known to have been used in the preparation of products such as the cheaper burgers, sausages, pies and mince. MRM may not be added to minced meat but may be added to meat preparations such as burgers and sausages being produced for the domestic market.
72. MRM made from bovine vertebral column was banned in 1995 and in 1998 the ban was extended to MRM from the vertebral column of any ruminant animal. This extended ban is now included in the EU-wide SRM rules. Since December 1995 producers of ruminant MRM have been legally required to register with MAFF (before 1 April 2000) and the FSA (since 1 April 2000). The Meat Hygiene Service enforces their compliance with the rules relating to use of head bones (which are classified as SRM) and vertebral column. In addition the restrictions on the use of beef bones introduced in late 1997, although now lifted for retail sales of fresh meat, still apply to the use of bones in manufacturing food products (including MRM). This means that MRM may now be produced only from pig and chicken bones and sheep or lamb bones other than the vertebral column and the skull of older sheep. We understand that, in practice, the majority of MRM used is derived from chicken with a small amount from pigs. Very little, if any, is now made from sheep bones.
73. The inclusion of MRM in meat products raises issues of consumer choice as well as safety. The presence of MRM (and the species of animal from which it is derived) must be listed on the label of relevant processed meat products. This requirement is enforced by local authorities, which can be done relatively easily by inspection of the plant producing the product. However, this is not possible for imported products and there is no analytical method available to test such products for the presence of MRM. A test is, however, being developed to identify the presence of neural tissues in meat products. This would also detect such tissues in MRM. We welcome this and recommend that further research should be undertaken to develop a method of analysis to detect the presence of MRM in meat products, so that the labelling requirement can be enforced.
74. Since vCJD in humans may have been caused by consumption of BSE-infected cheaper beef products containing MRM, we see no scope for any relaxation at present in the rules relating to MRM from the vertebral column of ruminant animals.