Safety and Regulation
Questions arose in the 1980s as to the safety of mechanically separated meat. In 1982, a report published by U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on mechanically separated meat said it was safe and established a standard of identity for the food product. Some restrictions were made on how much can be used and the type of products in which it can be used. These restrictions were based on concerns for limiting intake of certain components in mechanically separated meat, such as calcium. Mechanically separated meat may not be described simply as "meat" on food labels, but must be labeled as "mechanically separated" pork, chicken, or turkey in the ingredients statement. Hot dogs can contain no more than 20 percent mechanically separated pork.
Concerns were raised again when the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic, commonly known as "mad cow disease", occurred in the United Kingdom in 1986. Since bits of the spinal cord (the part most likely to be carrying BSE prions) often got mixed in with the rest of the meat, products using mechanically separated meat taken from the carcasses of bovines were at higher risk for transmitting BSE to humans. As a result, in 1989, the United Kingdom tightened restrictions to help ensure pieces of the spinal cord would not be present in mechanically separated meat taken from bovines.
Similar USDA rules became effective November 4, 1996, and were later updated, stressing:
| “ | Due to FSIS regulations enacted in 2004 to protect consumers against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, mechanically separated beef is considered inedible and is prohibited for use as human food. It is not permitted in hot dogs or any other processed product. | ” |
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