Volume 13: Industry Processes and Controls
3. Head-boning and brain removal
Some features of the industry

3.3 'Head-boning' is the name given to the process of removing the easily accessible meat from the cheeks and from other parts of the bovine head. This meat is generally described as 'head meat' or 'cheek meat'. Slaughterhouses would either harvest this meat themselves or send the head to a specialist boning plant or to a butcher who would perform this task. Specialist head-boning plants operated either as separate sections of large slaughterhouses or as independent entities.

3.4 The precise number of head-boning plants in operation in 1986 is not certain. During 1990 MAFF itself did not appear to know the exact location of specialist head-boning plants for the purposes of inspection. ¹ More recent statistics are also difficult to reconcile. Surveillance performed in January and February 1995 recorded visits to 348 slaughterhouses and 24 head-boning plants. It was estimated that the heads of 60 per cent of the weekly national cattle slaughter were being processed in the ten largest specialist boning plants. It was reported that most of these plants were licensed and supervised to a limited extent by the MHS, but that 'operators may come and go'. ² A national survey performed three months later in June 1995 recorded visits to a total of 392 slaughterhouses and 43 head-boning plants. ³

3.5 The meat obtained from heads was often of poor quality and used in processed foods such as pies and hamburgers. ⁴