Where does the meat for ready meals come from?

After the "Horsegate" scandal, more and more consumers and their representative associations are demanding the indication of the origin of meat for human consumption. 40 European organisations regrouped within the European BEUC structure have just launched an awareness campaign, named "Where is my meat from?".

European legislation should change on 1 April 2015 with the application of the EU execution regulation no. 1337/2013 requiring professionals to indicate the country or place of origin of fresh, refrigerated and frozen meat from swine, sheep, goats and poultry. However, this new system does not concern meat that has been transformed and integrated into other prepared products (cooked meals, cold meats...) leaving the packaging without information for consumers. Whilst some brands already make the effort to specify the origin of raw meats, those of transformed meats are largely overlooked.

So, the "Where is my meat from?" campaign lets consumers discover the supply chains for these types of products. A clear, fun chart on the dedicated website, "Where is my meat from", lets you discover the labelling differences between raw and transformed meat, from the birth of the animals to their slaughter. The aim of this operation is to reach a labelling requirement for all meat-based products, indicating place of birth, rearing, slaughter and preparation of animals. 

BEUC invites consumers to share this chart and photographs of product labels clearly indicating the origin of the meat used in their preparation.

*Illustration from the "Where is my meat from" site: http://www.whereismymeatfrom.eu/fr#anchor-u6432