USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service issued an advanced copy of Directive 7160.2 entitled "Meat Prepared Using Advanced Mechanical Meat/Bone Separation Machinery and Meat Recovery Systems." This directives provides instructions to inspectors to determine whether product derived from the mechanical separation of skeletal muscle tissue from the bones of livestock is "meat".
According to FSIS Constituent Update, FSIS issued the Directive to clarify that inspection program personnel should take all bone-related components into account when evaluating product derived from the mechanical separation of skeletal muscle tissue from the bones of livestock. The Directive specifically instructs personnel, when assigned by PBIS to perform Inspection System Guide task 06D06b2, to also "determine whether the establishment is completely removing spinal cord from the neck and/or back bones (if any) before bones enter the system."
Further, if it is believed that establishment personnel are not doing so, inspectors are instructed to "take a 1/4 pound sample of the finished product and send it to FSIS' Eastern Laboratory".
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
Web Site: http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii