New poultry products regulations bad news: SAPA

SAPA CEO Kevin Lovell said while many allegations and unsubstantiated statements were made around the issue of brining by competitive stakeholders, no checks were done at any time to test whether these points were valid.

Earlier on Friday, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana published amendments to the regulations on poultry products.

The amendments include, among others, major changes for producers of both fresh and frozen poultry products. In terms of the amendments:

– The total brine injection allowed for whole carcasses would be limited to a maximum of 10 percent (currently eight percent);

– The total brine injection allowed for individual portions would be limited to a maximum of 15 percent (no current limit);

– The product name would have to include a true description of the added formulated solution (eg “chicken with brine-based mixture”, “sweet ‘n sour marinated chicken drumsticks”, etc.]; and

– Producers would have to regularly perform tests to ensure compliance with the new water uptake and injection limits, and keep records thereof for at least one year for auditing purposes.

The amendments would be phased in over a period of six months to allow producers to adjust the levels of brine injection and to bring the labelling of the products in line with the new requirements, the department said in a statement.

“The minister would like to give assurance to all stakeholders that should there be a need to effect amendments which may have been necessitated by either scientific research outcomes or objective rationale, the minister would not hesitate to review the gazetted poultry meat regulations. The minister would like to thank all the participants who took part in bringing forth the successful amendment of the poultry meat regulations.”

Lovell said all the scientific, technical, and economic information SAPA supplied on brining had essentially been ignored, with no impact assessments conducted by the department on the effects of the regulations on consumers, retailers, or the local poultry industry.

“Besides the potentially devastating results on local poultry production and the jobs that depend on it, this constitutes an assault on the poor of South Africa who will now find the price of individually quick frozen (IQF) chicken unaffordable.”

In 2006, on behalf of the local industry, SAPA wrote to the department asking them to update the poultry regulations under the Agriculture Product Standards Act.

“For the last 10 years we have fought to have these regulations updated in a way that benefits all parties in the poultry value chain, with the added assurance that South African consumers can be absolutely certain that what they believe they are buying is what they actually get.

“But having refused to consider the true facts of brining, its purpose for improving meat quality, and most importantly the manner in which this practice actually improves the national diet by reducing the cost of South Africa’s favourite protein product, these regulations will reduce the size of the largest sector of local agricultural production and cause considerable job losses – all of this for no good reason.

“Given the economic crisis facing South Africa today, these regulations symbolise the beginning of a major contraction in our industry at a time when the country cannot afford contraction in any industry.

“SAPA will be contesting this assault on our industry and our consumers in the strongest possible way so that the harm that it will cause to our economy is stopped,” Lovell said. - ANA