Meat and meat products

This page is a guide to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Food Standards Code) labelling and compositional standards for meat and meat products sold in, or imported into, Australia and New Zealand.

Chapter 1 of the Food Standards Code contains the labelling provisions and information that must be provided for foods, and the requirements for how this information must be presented.

Standard 2.2.1 includes additional labelling and information requirements specific to meat and meat products.

Definitions

• Assisted service display cabinet– an enclosed or semi-enclosed display cabinet which requires a person to serve the food as requested by the purchaser e.g. deli cabinet.
• Comminuted – chopped, diced or minced.
• Cured and/or dried meat flesh in whole cuts or pieces– meat flesh including any attached bone containing no less than 160g/kg meat protein on a fat free basis.
• Manufactured meat– processed meat containing no less than 660g/kg of meat.
• Meat pie means a pie containing no less than 250g/kg of meat flesh.
• Meat products are not specifically defined in the Food Standards Code, but in this guide they include manufactured and processed meat, as well as mixed food products that contain meat with other food or foods, such as hamburger patties or spaghetti and meatballs.
• Offal – those parts of the carcass such as blood, brain, heart, kidney, liver, pancreas, spleen, thymus, tongue and tripe, but excludes meat flesh, bone and bone marrow.
• Prescribed names– for meat and meat products, include:
  • fermented comminuted processed meat - either not heat treated, heat treated or cooked
  • fermented comminuted manufactured meat - either not heat treated, heat treated or cooked.
• Processed meat– a meat product containing no less than 300g/kg (30%) meat, where meat either singly or in combination with other ingredients or additives, has undergone a method of processing other than boning, slicing, dicing, mincing or freezing, and includes manufactured meat and cured and/or dried meat flesh in whole cuts or pieces. Products containing less than 30% meat, therefore not meeting the definition of ‘processed meat’, may include hamburger patties or meatloaf. These products are regarded as mixed foods and must comply with the general food standards for all food as well as any food product standards that apply to each of the components of the food.
• Sausage– processed meat that is minced, is comminuted meat, or a combination thereof, which may be combined with other foods, encased or formed into discrete units, but does not include meat formed or joined into the semblance of cuts of meat.

Labelling for retail sale

Generally, all foods sold by retail must be labelled in full. However, some exemptions apply.

Step 1:  Decide if your food needs a label

Take our do I need a label? quiz to check if your food needs a label.

Even if your food does not need a label, there is labelling information that may be required to:

• be displayed with the food (e.g. on display card)
• provided upon request by the purchaser (e.g. verbally or in writing).

Step 2:  Create a food label or a product sheet

Use Label Buster to help you to create to a food label or a product sheet for your meat and meat products.

Examples of some of the specific labelling information required for meat and meat products are:

• allergen declarations (e.g.: contains milk, egg)
• percentage of characterising ingredients (e.g. percentage of beef in beef sausages)
• mandatory warning and advisory statements
  • When raw meat is joined or formed to look like a cut of meat (e.g. beef steakettes)
  • When food is, or contains offal such as kidney, liver or brain (e.g. steak and kidney pie)
  • When using irradiated food (e.g. Herbs that have been irradiated which are added as an ingredient to a fish product.)
• nutrition information panel where a nutritional claim is made (e.g. ‘low fat’ or ‘gluten free’)
• Country of origin labelling for unpackaged meat and meat products (e.g. meat cuts displayed in a display cabinet).

Where country of origin labelling for unpackaged meat or meat products is on a label in connection with the display of the food, the height of the writing on the label must be at least 9mm in height, unless the food is in a refrigerated assisted service display cabinet, in which case it must be at least 5mm in height.

A single sign may be used for products that have the same country of origin. For example, a butcher that only sells meat produced in Australia may display a single sign with a statement such as ‘all meat displayed in store are the product of Australia’. For more information, see Standard 1.2.1.

Labelling for wholesale

Wholesale meat and meat products must bear a label or have associated documentation which provides:

• a name indicating the true nature of the meat or a description of the food
• lot identification
• name and address in Australia or New Zealand of the supplier
• country/countries of origin.

You will also need to supply, on demand by the retailer or regulatory authority, sufficient information about your product to enable them to comply with labelling and composition requirements for their product, including the country/countries of origin and information about ingredients, additives, use of genetically modified ingredients and potential allergens, e.g. sodium metabisulphite (META).

Food additives

Food additives must not be added to food, unless expressly permitted in Standard 1.3.1 of the Food Standards Code.

The additives and maximum permitted level of additives in different meats and meat products are identified in Appendix 2. References to schedules refer to the relevant schedules for Standard 1.3.1 of the Food Standards Code.

Carry-over of additives

If an ingredient contains an additive, the additive could be present in a final product. For example, if meat is intended for use in sausage manufacture contains 125mg/kg of sulphur dioxide, it is likely all or most of this will be present in the final product. Therefore, the manufacturer must consider this before adding additional preservatives, to ensure the maximum permitted level of sulphur dioxide (500mg/kg) is not exceeded (refer to Appendix 1).

When using an additive in food, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) must be used, which means using the lowest level possible of an additive to achieve its function (e.g. preservation) which will leave the least residue in the final food.

Branding meat

Permitted colours may be applied to the outer surface of meat as a brand for the purposes of inspection or identification and do not have to be declared on the label of the package that contains that food.

Maximum Residue Limits

Maximum limits for chemicals and toxicants are safe legal limits of natural and man-made contaminants that are tolerated in specified foods. [Standard 1.4.1]

Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) are the highest legal limits for agricultural and veterinary chemical residues in particular foods (including meat and meat products) [Standard 1.4.2]. They are set to protect the health and safety of consumers. If there is no maximum level specified in the Food Standards Code for an agricultural or veterinary chemical in a food, the chemical is not permitted to be present in the food.

Legal microbiological limits

Legal microbiological limits are set to ensure that all meat and meat products are safe to eat. Correct handling of the meat is essential to ensure microbiological safety. The Food Standards Code sets the legal limits that apply. For more information, see Standard 1.6.1.

More information

Online tools

• Not sure if you need a food label?  Take the Do I need a label? quiz to find out.
• Learn how to create a label and a product sheet using the Label Buster tool.
• Country of origin labelling tool.

Read about:

• Labelling requirements in the Label Buster guide.

If you have any further questions regarding the labelling or composition of meat and meat products, contact your local Queensland Health Public Health Unit.