As of: March 24, 2024, 5:16 a.m
By: Julia Stanton
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The labeling requirement for unpackaged meat is not properly implemented in butcher shops and supermarkets.
Stuttgart – The newly introduced labeling requirement at meat counters has been in effect in the EU for around seven weeks.
The regulation should ensure more transparency at the meat counter.
But a recent sample carried out by the Baden-Württemberg consumer advice center now shows that this obligation is not being implemented in butcher shops as intended.
Unpackaged meat must be better labeled since February 1, 2024.
© Jan Woitas/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa-tmn
Sample shows: Labeling requirements for unpackaged meat are not sufficiently followed
The rule affects pork, sheep, goat and poultry meat that is not pre-packaged.
With this meat, it must now be transparent for customers to see where the animals were raised and where they were slaughtered.
The information should be visible on small signs or screens near the goods.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case at the moment: According to the consumer advice center, the visit to three butchers and five supermarkets in Baden-Württemberg was sobering: “No company has completely and correctly implemented the obligation to label the origin,” says Vanessa Schifano, head of the Food and Nutrition Department at the Consumer Center.
During the sample, the designation of origin was completely missing from all butcher shops.
The information at the fresh produce counters in the supermarket was incomplete, according to a report.
Consumer advice center criticizes the labeling requirement for unpackaged meat
The consumer advice center is now criticizing the fact that the incorrect implementation of the labeling requirement is confusing for users: “If the labeling requirement is implemented as it was in the companies in our sample, it tends to mislead consumers instead of ensuring more transparency,” explains Schifano.
However, the consumer advice center also criticized the regulation itself.
The mandatory information is already too imprecise, as only the country of origin has to be stated.
This regulation therefore does not help people who want to shop regionally.
“Since only the country of rearing and slaughtering has to be specified, it is still possible that a chicken has been transported several hundred kilometers because, for example, it was raised in Schleswig-Holstein, slaughtered in Saxony-Anhalt and sold in Baden-Württemberg “was,” explains the expert.
In view of the poor results of the sample, the consumer advice center advises reporting violations of the new labeling requirement for unpackaged meat to the local food monitoring agency or the consumer advice center.
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(jus/dpa)