Meat water content

Lorna Cachia's honest reply on behalf of the Malta Standards Authority is to be commended. Yet I cannot help but see there are glaring anomalies in her answer. We shall leave the contents of the letter by Smina Limited, whose representative made it quite clear that there are water injection machines in use in Malta, and that the EU approves of air chillers as opposed to water chillers. So the EU is somehow involved.

Dr Cachia steered clear of this important element. Given the nature of the function and terms of reference of the Malta Standards Authority, that was a surprising omission. Dr Cachia comes out with the equally surprising submission that "it is precisely because of this natural water content that there are no standards dealing with meat water content".

She goes on to quote the website of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. That was probably the worst authority to rely on based only on one state's analysis.

The United States has the most laissez faire attitude to consumer rights and it would not surprise me if the contents of this website were written by the Better Business Bureau. I deal in facts, not supposition, practicalities, not theories, and the evidence of my eyes and of experience.

Dr Cachia should not go visiting websites, she should have the answer readily available if the authority's terms of reference are "to promote standards and standard related activities and to advise the industry". She should go buy a fresh breast of chicken in Malta and compare the same with one in London.

I know for certain that there is water injection in meat in London but I can assure her that beef meat or poultry meat does not shrink to half its size in the cooking process as it does here. Dr Cachia should not give any credence to the figures quoted being of no relevance to the realities here.

What does it matter if there are no controls on the other side of the world? What does it matter if the EU has no regulations governing the control of water injection into meat? What matters are the facts here resulting in the consumer paying for water instead of meat. Dr Cachia says there are no controls because of the high content of water in beef meat and poultry.

I am sure English consumers of these products prefer to use a knife and fork to eat their purchases, than to use a straw to drink them. The Malta Standards Authority should live up to its name and promote the high standards it is charged with promoting.