Birds Eye starts ‘BSE’ labelling
Birds Eye Wall’s will use labels on its MenuMaster and Healthy Options meal ranges to indicate that the products do not contain British beef, in response to the BSE scare.
The Unilever subsidiary is believed to be the first packaged food producer to use labels in an effort to reassure consumers that its products are safe.
A spokeswoman says: “We will be clarifying the source of the beef via label stickers in order to avoid confusion.” She declined to say when stickers would appear or if they were to be used as a temporary measure.
The food giant is relaunching its beef burgers next week with a national press advertising drive.
Birds Eye Wall’s suspended production of its beef burgers until it could implement its new policy to stop using British beef from cattle more than 30 months old (MW last week).
It is understood that full-colour national press ads for its beef burgers will break in the middle of next week. The ads will attempt to reassure consumers that the beef content is safe.
The Food Commission, an independent watchdog, welcomes the move and is calling for tighter laws on food labelling.
In particular, it wants the use of mechanically recovered meat to be announced on labels as a mandatory and not a voluntary measure.
