Special safety labels won’t be required until at least 2018 for mechanically tenderized meat because the rule was not finalized in time for it to take effect earlier, according to Agri-Pulse.
The regulation remains pending for review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) labeling regulations, the labeling rule could have taken effect as soon as 2016 only if it had been cleared by OMB and approved by USDA by Dec. 31.
FSIS first proposed the labeling for mechanically tenderized meat in June 2013 out of concern that consumers aren’t cooking the meat properly to eliminate pathogens. The meat is tenderized with knives and needles that can drive bacteria inside the product.