Volume 13: Industry Processes and Controls
4. Mechanically recovered meat (MRM)
Legislative changes and developments in the process post-BSE
Bovine Offal Prohibition Regulations 1989 (the 1989 SBO Regulations)
The Specified Bovine Offal (Amendment) Order 1995

Bovine Offal Prohibition Regulations 1989 (the 1989 SBO Regulations)

4.27 The 1989 SBO Regulations prohibited the use of Specified Bovine Offal (SBO), including the spinal cord, for human consumption.

4.28 As explained in Chapter 2, spinal cord was removed from the vertebral column as a normal part of dressing the carcass. However, under the Regulations, manufacturers of MRM were required to ensure that no SBO entered MRM for human consumption.

4.29 At least one plant ceased production of MRM from cattle bones in June 1989 (before the introduction of the 1989 Regulations), because of its concern that it was impossible to be sure that potentially infective central nervous tissue was fully removed from vertebral columns. ¹

4.30 Following the introduction of the 1989 Regulations, other plants, such as the one visited by the MAFF Parliamentary Secretary, Mr David Curry, in June 1990, stopped bovine MRM production for the same reason. ² The alternative of sorting and inspecting bones was not considered viable:

Canvins [the plant visited] however said that they did not wish to sort out bones for MRM because it would be labour intensive. When they were producing it, all the bones were automatically conveyed to the MRM machine. ³

4.31 Sorting and inspection of incoming carcass remnants may have been a cost-effective alternative for larger MRM plants. The report prepared for MAFF in 1997 found that:

MRM manufacturers' inspection procedures for the removal of residual spinal cord were tightened up considerably, following the SBO ban. ⁴

4.32 In 1995, Mr Slinger, the operator of a plant in Great Harwood, told the MAFF Minister, Mr Douglas Hogg, that his firm had invested heavily in veterinary controls:

Indeed, his own veterinary staff had firm instructions to impound any material which on arrival included spinal cord, to separate it out, take photographic evidence and press for prosecution. ⁵

4.33 Vol. 6: Human Health, 1989-96 examines the concerns which were expressed about the safety of MRM following the emergence of BSE.

The Specified Bovine Offal (Amendment) Order 1995

4.34 This Order came into force on 15 December 1995. ⁶ It banned the use ofthe 'vertebral column of a bovine animal in the recovery of meat by mechanical means'. ⁷ It also banned the use of meat derived in this way in human food, ⁸ and required all MRM plants to be registered with MAFF. ⁹

4.35 As discussed above, the vertebral column was significant in the production of bovine MRM. Before the Order was introduced, MAFF acknowledged that 'there would be an effect on some companies'. ¹⁰ The Leatherhead Report concluded that the 'ban on the use of vertebral column for beef MRM production effectively brought an end to this industry in the UK'. ¹¹

4.36 The remaining 95 per cent of MRM, which was primarily produced from poultry, is unlikely to have been directly affected by the 1995 Order, although concerns were expressed that the legislation would have a 'detrimental impact on the image of all MRM products'. ¹²