Volume 13: Industry Processes and Controls
8. Other industries
Butchery and meat processing
Introduction
Some features of the industry
Processes involved in butchery
Legislative changes and developments in the process post-BSE

Introduction

8.2 Butchers and meat processors take meat that is fit for human consumption and convert it into the forms in which it is purchased and eaten. They are often the final stages through which fresh meat, and potentially the BSE agent, pass before reaching the consumer.

8.3 None of the processes in these industries is rigorous enough to destroy the BSE agent. Therefore, the most important BSE-related controls were designed to remove potentially BSE-infective material at the slaughterhouse, before it reached butchers and meat processors. Nonetheless, these controls still had an effect on the processes used in butchery and the manufacture of processed meat products. They also obliged these sectors of the industry to ensure that no Specified Bovine Offal (SBO) was used or sold for human consumption.

Some features of the industry

8.4 It is difficult to draw a clear distinction between butchers and manufacturers of processed meat products. These two sectors of the meat industry have never been mutually exclusive, and as the meat products sector has become more diverse and grown in size and market share, large meat processors, independent specialist butchers, supermarket butchers and even some slaughterhouses have all been responsible for the manufacture of some processed meat products.

Meat cutting and especially further processing is also [along with slaughterhouses] undertaken by specialist companies buying raw material in various forms from the abattoirs. There are over 2,000 such companies ranging from butchers themselves, specialist boning, cutting and packaging plants and large modern processing plants which are considered more as food manufacturers, producing a range of consumer ready products, rather than purely meat processors. These companies are processing beef for both the retail and catering markets. ¹

8.5 Trade associations representing butchers and meat processors included the British Meat Manufacturers Association (BMMA), the Retail Butchers Trade Association and the National Federation of Meat Trades.

8.6 Both butchery and the manufacture of processed meat products are subject to the Food Safety Act 1990 - which provides general standards for the preparation and sale of food - and similar regulatory controls applied to these sectors of the industry in 1986. ² These controls are considered in vol. 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health.

Butchery

8.7 Butchers cut up carcasses and sides of meat into smaller portions such as joints and cuts suitable for sale to consumers. Butchery can take place in premises adjacent to the slaughterhouse, at a large centralised butchery operation or at catering or retail premises. There has been an increasing move by slaughterhouses themselves to 'add value' to their operations by preparing ready-made cuts of meat, including boneless joints, oven-ready packs, manufactured products and convenience foods. ³ For the purposes of this chapter, 'butchery' is intended to cover the cutting up of carcasses both within slaughterhouse cutting plants and in supermarkets or independent high street butcher's shops.

8.8 There has been a shift in recent times from 'high street' or 'corner shop' butchers to butchers employed by supermarkets, who prepare cuts of meat in store along with meat products such as sausages, mince and pies. In 1990, Safeway plc reported that 75 per cent of the retail packs it sold were prepared in store. ⁴ Supermarkets increased their share of beef sales from 17 per cent in 1977 to 70 per cent in 1997, while the share of independent butchers fell from 66 per cent in 1977 to 18 per cent in 1997. ⁵ During the 1960s there were around 33,000 independent butchers operating in the UK. ⁶ By 1993 there were fewer than 11,000 independent butchers in the UK, and by 1996 this number had fallen to 10,380. ⁷

In the last few years, however, supermarkets have been increasing their range of fresh meats, and the larger chains have been expanding their numbers of in-store butchers. As a result, by 1997, most consumers were buying both fresh and processed meats as part of their weekly supermarket shopping trip. ⁸

Meat processing

8.9 The processed meat and meat products sector includes many different products, such as burgers, sausages, pies and other pastries, canned meats, meat spreads and pâtés, cured and smoked meats, and ready meals and convenience foods. Re-formed meats are used to make many different types of product, including some beef roasts and various 'rolls' of meat. The meat processing industry is largely a product of the post-war era, when consumers began gradually to move away from traditional cuts of meat, while the increased availability of refrigeration allowed the introduction of a greater range of products. Items such as sausages do, however, have a long history in British cuisine.

8.10 The increased popularity of processed meat products has meant that fresh carcass meat is no longer the largest sector of the meat and meat products market. In 1992, 33.4 per cent of consumer expenditure on meat was on carcass meat and 34.2 per cent was on meat products (the balance being spent on poultry, bacon and ham). However, by 1997 carcass meat accounted for only 28.5 per cent of expenditure on meat, and expenditure on meat products had risen to 39.1 per cent. ⁹

The shift away from carcass meat has led to consumers moving towards more processed meat products, with the leading manufacturers introducing a wide plethora of added-value, speciality products. ¹⁰

8.11 The possible presence of brain and spinal cord in meat products is discussed in chapters 3 and 4 above. The Inquiry was told that institutional caterers had used tonsils in beefburgers. ¹¹

Processes involved in butchery

8.12 High street butchers and supermarket butchers are normally supplied with sides of meat directly from slaughterhouses or through meat wholesalers. However, the supply routes to butchers vary and, as discussed above, some slaughterhouses perform some butchery tasks themselves, such as making hamburger meat and meat trimmings.

8.13 Where butchery takes place within slaughterhouses, meat cutters work on assembly lines, with each individual responsible for a number of specific cuts. Depending on the type of cut in question, knives, cleavers, meat saws, band saws and other equipment are used. In meat packing plants and large retail food establishments, butchers and meat cutters work in large meat cutting rooms equipped with power machines and conveyors. In small retailers, the butcher may work in a space behind the meat counter. ¹²

8.14 Butchers separate wholesale cuts of meat into retail cuts or servings. They also cut meat into steaks and chops, shape and tie roasts, and grind beef for sale as chopped meat. Boneless cuts are prepared using knives, slicers or power cutters, while band saws carve bone-in pieces. Butchers in retail food stores may also weigh, wrap and label the cuts of meat, arrange them in refrigerated cases for display, and prepare special cuts of meat to fill unique orders. High street butchers work in the same way but also display some of their cuts of meat unwrapped.

8.15 Minced, or ground, meat is sometimes prepared from the trimmings or offcuts from other cuts of meat, but may also be made from less popular parts of the carcass, such as the forequarter. Approximately 25 per cent of the beef consumed in the UK is minced. ¹³

8.16 As discussed in Chapter 3 on head-boning and brain removal, many butchers recovered the accessible meat from the heads of slaughtered cattle and had the heads provided to them by slaughterhouses for this purpose. ¹⁴

8.17 Some butchers also removed the brain from the skulls of slaughtered cattle and sold it intact for consumption by humans or domestic pets. ¹⁵ This practice was not particularly widespread, but it is estimated that as many as 270,000 brains a year may have been sold by butchers in England and Wales in the early 1980s. ¹⁶

Legislative changes and developments in the process post-BSE

8.18 From 13 November 1989, the Bovine Offal (Prohibition) Regulations 1989 (the 1989 SBO Regulations) banned the use or sale of Specified Bovine Offal (SBO) for human consumption. ¹⁷ SBO - brain, spinal cord, spleen, thymus, tonsils and intestines - included material which some butchers may have previously sold, albeit to a limited extent, for human consumption.

8.19 As explained in Chapter 2 on slaughterhouses, all SBO should have been removed from sides of meat before it reached the butchery stage. The removal of SBO at the slaughterhouse is discussed in Volume 6: Human Health 1989-96.

8.20 Nonetheless, butchers had an obligation under the 1989 SBO Regulations to ensure that no SBO was used or sold for human consumption. To fulfil this obligation, retail butchers needed to be aware of which bovine material had been made SBO. It is apparent that this was not always the case. Mr Richard Lodge, the Head of Food Health & Safety at Birmingham City Council, referring to a survey undertaken in 1996, told the Inquiry:

. . . our butchers were . . . not really aware of what they should be looking for, what SBOs were, how they should recognise them. ¹⁸

8.21 The Inquiry heard no evidence of a general change in practice by butchers in response to the 1989 SBO Regulations. Nor does it appear that butchers were provided with any specific guidance or instructions on how to identify SBO to ensure that it did not reach consumers. For instance, in January 1990, the Meat and Livestock Commission issued a circular about BSE to all meat traders designed to 'clarify the position' and 'allay customers' concerns'. It did not, however, provide any explanation of what was SBO under the 1989 Regulations or how retailers could ensure that it was not sold for human consumption. ¹⁹

8.22 In March 1990, the BMMA printed and distributed a guidance note in relation to BSE. It was provided to the Retail Butchers Trade Association and the National Federation of Meat Trades for distribution to their members. ²⁰ It made a number of recommendations on health and safety measures but said only the following in relation to the responsibility of butchers under the 1989 SBO Regulations:

. . . cattle known to be affected by BSE are being kept out of slaughterhouses under legislation. Also to be extra careful, parts of apparently normal animals are being kept from human consumption. These are the brain, spinal cord, intestines, tonsils, thymus and spleen. They are covered by new regulations and are stained or sterilised. ²¹

8.23 In April 1996 (a period just outside the Inquiry's terms of reference), Birmingham City Council surveyed butcher's shops to identify the incidence of SBO in beef for retail sale. Visits were made to 353 butchers and supermarkets, 120 of which received 'bone-in beef'. The results showed that SBO was still entering the human food chain:

Seven pieces of suspected beef were found in six (5%) of the retail shops inspected which receive bone-in beef. Five of these were thymus (heartbread) and two were spinal canals which had not been properly cleaned. In one instance, the thymus was about to be included in meat for mincing. ²²

Bovine brains and head meat

8.24 The sale of bovine brains for human consumption was prohibited by the 1989 SBO Regulations. Before the introduction of the SBO controls, many independent butchers routinely recovered meat from the heads of slaughtered cattle returned to them by slaughterhouses for this purpose. As discussed Chapter 3, butchers were not regarded as 'specialist boning plants' for the purposes of the 1989 Regulations, and bovine heads could therefore no longer be returned to them unless the brain (as SBO) had been removed. ²³

8.25 Removal of the brain at the slaughterhouse and other practices (such as captive bolt stunning) raised the possibility of the head meat and other meat being contaminated with bovine brain material. Such contamination was particularly likely during the transport of the heads from slaughterhouses to locations such as butchers. ²⁴

8.26 Guidance to reduce risks from brain removal is described in Volume 6: Human Health 1989-96. Following the introduction of the Bovine Offal (Prohibition) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 in March of that year, bovine heads, even with the brain removed, could no longer be returned to butchers for recovery of the head meat. ²⁵