December 18, 2007

Britain draws up clear definition of 'fresh' chicken 

Recent consumer concerns on months old chicken still labeled as "fresh" in supermarkets veer British officials to draft official definition of the term "fresh".

British consumers have expressed concerns on purchasing meat that is much older than they claim to be.

Plenty of the basted turkey and chicken joints, fillets in sauce or breadcrumbs and packs of chicken sandwiches in shops appear to be fresh. However, with the influx of poultry imports from Brazil and Thailand, more chicken ends up weeks or even months old.

When the poultry and poultry products reach Britain, importers can keep cooked meat, uncooked birds and poultry pieces in cold store. Meat in ready meals could be many months old, which may have been thawed and frozen several times. Although the meat is safe to eat, the information on labels is misleading.

Lord Rooker, Food and Farming Minister, supported the campaign to clarify labelling rules and asked supermarkets to patronize home-produced poultry.

Notedly, 80 percent of chicken sandwiches sold by supermarkets in Britain were made from imported meat.

Britain was also the biggest buyer of Thai poultry in Europe - which can only be imported cooked because of measures to prevent avian flu.

Last year, Britain imported 83,000 tonnes of Thai chicken meat.