Eurotrash....

S

Songsheet

At the Start
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
3,217
Location
Somerset
As more details of the lifting of the over 30 months ban of beef entering the human food chain are revealed, the inevitable 'let's make farming worse' brigade are now revealing their cards...

As the regs stand at present, until Nov 1st, all cattle for human or animal consumption must be slaughtered before they reach their 30 month birthday. If your abattoir and butcher have the facilities and the willingness to do so, the carcases can then be properly hung and the animal properly butchered to provide the traditional UK cuts of rib on the bone, oxtails etc.

So what has the EC now come up with? Yup, a new ruling to make it illegal for the backbone to be left in any animals over 24 months of age.

So all those farmers who have carefully been building their traditional UK breeds - such as Ruby Red Devons, Herefords, Galloways, South Devons etc etc looking forward to the time when the over 30 months ban would be dropped and these slow-maturing breeds (along with several of the slow-maturing continental breeds as well) would come back into their own are now basically f*cked.

Because to hang and develop the favours properly, it is essential that the backbone is left in the animal or it becomes physically impossible to actually hang the animal.....

Of course, the Under Secretary to the Under-Secretary to the actual Minister protested (lamely) that Britain had tried to reverse this ruling but somehow there was no real conviction in his voice.

Apparently, 'ageing' of the meat will now be in vacuum packed bags and you'll all be well-conned under new-labelling, no doubt, with weasel words such as 'traditional breed meat' and 'aged' to try to convey the impression that we've gone back to traditional butchery practices.

I'm all for the lifting of the under 30-months ban - the criminal waste of any animal that dies from natural causes over that age being automatically incinerated has to be verging on the wicked and I agree that we must have safe farming practices but can anyone telll me why, on October 31st it is perfect safe and legal to sell a beef joint on the bone that is 29 months of age but that after that date, it will be illegal?

And we think Dubya has the monopoly on illogic.......
 
Because to hang and develop the favours properly, it is essential that the backbone is left in the animal or it becomes physically impossible to actually hang the animal.....
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that hanging\ageing meat was done for texture and had nothing to do with flavour.
 
Hanging meat (whether beef or game/lamb/poultry) is a natural way of tenderising it, Mel, but it will alter the flavour too - sometimes it's not to everyone's taste, of course. Usually makes the meat 'stronger'.

Apparently, if we decided to make a stand, it would be perfectly legal for UK consumption to sell beef on the bone over 24 or 30 months after Nov 1st but not for export to the EC. However, this would make for extra expense at slaughter, as obviously you've got two sets of regulations in force and meat inspectors would have two sets of paperwork to check. You can guess that the cost-effective way out will be the one chosen.
 
Is it not the case that the 24 and 30 month time limits will be extended as time passes?

Legislation passed within the last couple of months means beef in Ireland can only be sold on the bone if the cattle are less than 12 months old. Does the new legislation override this, or will every country have their own rules?
 
Looks like it could be every country for itself - but EC directive is that it is 24 months, so it looks like an even more extreme case in Ireland.

As BSE remains in the headlines, I reckon it's safe to assume that it is unlikely that the age threshold will increase, because we are all living in such a risk-averse society.

I am sure that there will be ways around the problems of correctly hanging carcases but that such new methods will also inevitably also mean increased paperwork, cost of new equipment and therefore increased costs to the consumer...

It's a great pity, because beef is an excellent product when produced properly, whether in the UK or in Ireland, and blandness is fast becoming the norm.
 
Guys! Guys! Who's going to help me produce and market the world's first plastic bovine spine, to be inserted into the de-spined carcasses, so they can still be hung 'in the natural manner'? Remember, folks, this is a very brief window of opportunity, before some dastardly bastard actually makes them and becomes a billionaire! (Or bullionaire, in this case.)
 
That would be silly, Ardross. You insert the plastic spine into the spinal cavity created by the removal of the bovine spine. You staple the cavity and hang the animal in the normal manner. The plastic spine would produce the support necessary to prevent deformation of the carcass, and allow the normal maturing process. As they would be removed and thrown away (naturally, made of biodegradable plastic) when butchering occurred, gold-plating them would be a wasteful and entirely unnecessary extravagance.

I dunno, some people are so uninformed about these things... :confused:
 
Back
Top