1 in 5 sausages tested across Canada contained different meat than labelled

[Independent voter]

If you can't tell it's the wrong meat does it really matter?








http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/sausage-science-1.4234568



A federally funded study has found that 20 per cent of sausages sampled from grocery stores across Canada contained meats that weren't on the label.

The study, published this week in the journal Food Control, was conducted by researchers at the University of Guelph and commissioned by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

It examined 100 sausages that were labelled as containing just one ingredient — beef, pork, chicken or turkey.

"About one in five of the sausages we tested had some off-label ingredients in them, which is alarming," said Robert Hanner, lead author of the study and an associate professor with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph.

Do we still need 3 square meals a day or is all-day breakfast the new normal?

The CFIA reached out to Hanner for the study after the European horse meat scandal in 2013, where food labelled as beef was found to have horse meat — in some cases beef was completely substituted by horse meat.

The goal of the study, the federal food regulator said, was to examine scientific methods used by Hanner to see if the CFIA could use them in its regulatory practices. The scientific tools showed promising results, the CFIA said.

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Seven of 27 beef sausages examined in the study contained pork. One of 38 supposedly pure pork sausages contained horse meat. Of 20 chicken sausages, four also contained turkey and one also had beef.

Five of the 15 turkey sausages studied contained no turkey at all — they were entirely chicken.

None of the sausages examined contained more than one other type of meat in addition to the meat the sausage was meant to contain, Hanner said, noting, however that researchers were only testing for turkey, chicken, pork, beef and horse.

"The good news is that typically beef sausages predominantly contain beef, but some of them also contain pork, so for our kosher and halal consumers, that is a bit disconcerting," Hanner said.

Findings in food fraud range

The undeclared meats found weren't trace levels, Hanner noted.

"The levels we're seeing aren't because the blades on a grinder aren't perfectly clean," he said, adding that many of the
undeclared ingredients found in the sausages were recorded in the one-to-five per cent range.

'Luckily when we looked at the prevalence based on that little set that we took, we are in much better shape than other countries.'

- Aline Dimitri
More than one per cent of undeclared ingredients indicates a breakdown in food processing or intentional food fraud, Hanner explained.

The CFIA said Thursday that it was not surprised at the results of the study.

"We know from international intelligence that this happens and we're not immune to these things," said Aline Dimitri, the
executive director of food safety science with the CFIA."Luckily when we looked at the prevalence based on that little set that we took, we are in much better shape than other countries."

The 20 per cent mislabelling rate is low compared to Europe, where studies have found 70 per cent of samples contained ingredients that were not declared.

The CFIA investigated all 20 cases of mislabelled sausages and in the case of the chicken labelled as turkey, it was able to find issues with a manufacturer's "traceability program" — incoming meat and production records were not properly maintained, Dimitri said.

That problem was fixed, she said, but the CFIA is keeping tabs on the company. The horse meat found in one sausage couldn't be investigated because the company had voluntarily ceased operations.

Dimitri cautioned, however, that the study has limitations.

"This is a very small study and research-focused and not designed to really have a baseline on what's happening out there," she said, adding that the scientific tools used by Hanner showed promising results.

"[The tools] can actually differentiate properly between different meats, it can give us a sense of what's in there," Dimitri said.

She said the CFIA is now considering a broader study on the issue.

[Rooflesstoofless]

What is the penalty for eating pork as a Muzzie or Jew?

Is it death or does their god just not like them as much?

[Deleted]

a Muzzie

The thing about racism is, it's not in the words one uses, but the way they use those words.

[Rooflesstoofless]

The thing about racism is, it's not in the words one uses, but the way they use those words.

You don't know what racism is.

[ItsRainingMetal]

Woah, what is Canada going to do about it's low food standards?

[zoomgpally]

Woah, what is Canada going to do about it's low food standards?

They will just make tennisface deflect to some blog post about weddings again

[Deleted]

ofcourse it matters that food labels are accurate, mostly for things like allergies. and bad food habits are a major cause of heart disease which is like the nr1 killer these days.

then theres less important reasons like you don't want to pay for watered down products, legal and business reasons, personal choice reasons, etc. but health is the most important reason.

[Rooflesstoofless]

Neither do you, if that is your response to someone calling you out on your racism via derogatory term

Anything you can convert to isn't a race.

Also, is calling an Australian an Aussie also derogatory? Some of you are just looking for something to feel butthurt about.

[zhero]

If you can't tell it's the wrong meat does it really matter?

yes,
1, because of religious people's expectations
2, because different meats have different requirements for cooking to be safe
3, because you are paying more for certain types of meats.

[Themius]

Anything you can convert to isn't a race.

Also, is calling an Australian an Aussie also derogatory? Some of you are just looking for something to feel butthurt about.

Muzzie is specifically a derogatory word though...

[Garnier Fructis]

What is the penalty for eating pork as a Muzzie or Jew?

Is it death or does their god just not like them as much?

Nothing, if they had no knowledge of it. Even if they do have knowledge of it, they are still allowed to eat it to save their lives or avoid persecution.

Which, incidentally is something that the 'pork-sandwich test' crowd completely fail to realize.

[Occam-OC]

Not Canadian but sausage is good so....no?

[Reverb256]

Absolutely haram.

[Super Kami Dende]

Neither do you, if that is your response to someone calling you out on your racism via derogatory term

Would you consider the term Biblethumper towards Christians a Racist term? if not you have proven you don't know what Racism is.

OT: Doesn't surprise me that sausages are so random with their fillings. If you've ever been to a butchers/meat factory it's pretty common.

[Rustedsaint]

I generally don't expect quality meat in my sausages, which is why I barely read pass the cheese filled label on them.
I can see it being bad for people being affected by allergies, but meat is meat to me.

[Fat Mac]

Neither do you, if that is your response to someone calling you out on your racism via derogatory term


OT: Only 1 in 5? Pfft, the UK has Canada beat with horse meat.

horse meat probably tastes okay in sausage form?

- - - Updated - - -

OT: Doesn't surprise me that sausages are so random with their fillings. If you've ever been to a butchers/meat factory it's pretty common.

thats what i was thinking too. they dont make it out of the good stuff. like katchup, its all the bad tomatoes

[Nihilist74]

[Deleted]

Try german sausages. They are made out of the labeled meat.

[Gracin]

2, because different meats have different requirements for cooking to be safe

Not that it matters much in the grand scheme of things, but sausages of any meat type or just ground meat in general are all a 160-165F cook temperature via USDA. With that said, you can cook them at home lower temperatures and thus get better results. But that should only be done if you trust where the sausage/ground was made, and in this case you clearly can't sooo 165F!

[Deleted]

What is the penalty for eating pork as a Muzzie or Jew?

Is it death or does their god just not like them as much?

Necessity has taught Jews to be a little bit more lenient. When Muslims were blowing up in Israel on a daily basis (before Israel started building the security fence), a rabbi suggested that they should hang bags of pig fat in buses to scare off superstitious Muslim suicide bombers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3484277.stm