Roast pork is not always pork

A meat product may not be referred to as "pork" when it was created by merging several pieces of meat. The Food Inspection Authority has objected to a produced by a Berlin firm meat product rightly regarded as misleading.

The plaintiff produces and sells meat products under the name "roast pork". As a raw material, she uses pieces of pork that are injected with brine. Then the muscles are loosened up in a so-called "tumbling process" and protein is released. The pieces pretreated in this way are first filled into cans and cooked, whereby the pieces of meat combine with one another by means of coagulation of the protein. The product is then removed and cut into slices, which are then used in the production of ready meals from various producers.

The food control authorities of several federal states had criticized the designation as “roast pork” as misleading without any reference to the joining of pieces of meat. The district office responsible for monitoring the manufacturing company had filed a criminal complaint against the plaintiff because of these complaints. With its declaratory action, the plaintiff challenged the opinion of the food authorities.

The administrative court in Berlin has confirmed the opinion of the food supervisory authority. Decisive for the assessment of whether there is a misleading, the opinion of an average informed, attentive and understanding consumer is. With a product offered to him as “roast pork”, regardless of whether it is roasted or raw, he expects a piece of meat left in its natural context and not a piece of meat put together from several pieces of meat through mechanical and heat exposure.

Source: Berlin [Senate Department for Justice]