Wait a minute, fresh minced meat isn’t fresh at all
Every piece of meat has exactly where it comes from stated on the packaging, except… minced meat. It comes from different countries, the journalists from Keuringsdienst van Waarde hear when they ask about it. At any rate, it isn’t stated on the packaging.
Albert Heijn does know where the minced meat comes from, the spokesperson says. From Botswana. That meat doesn’t discolour quickly, which is perfect for minced meat. But customer service doesn’t like telling people that, the Keuringsdienst van Waarde notices when they call Albert Heijn’s customer service. ‘Is that really so important to you? Why do you want to know?’
Packs of minced meat
Botswana has been exporting meat to the Netherlands for years, Teun van der Keuken discovers when he investigates. It comes from so-called humpback cattle from Africa, and our minced meat has been made from them for more than twenty years. These cattle live freely in a natural environment, says the specialist from Wageningen agricultural university. The animal isn’t fat and doesn’t receive any additional feed, and that isn’t bad, the expert says. Very lean meat, he says.
Frozen
If that African meat is so tasty and nicely lean, why isn’t that proudly stated on the packaging? People don’t know enough about Africa, says the marketing manager of a large meat company. ‘People associate Africa with famine, and they have no idea where Botswana is.’ In a cold store near London, a gigantic freezer is completely full of beef; the frozen cattle are stacked all the way to the ceiling. It can simply remain there for years, Teun discovers in the enormous freezer. Two years at most, and he comes across frozen cattle that have already been there for more than a year.
Freezing it again
The meat goes to Albert Heijn’s butcher shop frozen, where it is thawed to make minced meat. So it could be meat that is one or two years old, but the customer service representatives don’t say that. ‘Of course it’s fresh, otherwise it wouldn’t be sold,’ one claims. ‘It doesn’t come from a freezer; it’s simply fresh,’ says the other. ‘As it is displayed in the shop, it’s simply fresh. You can just put it in the freezer.’ It hasn’t been frozen? ‘No, no. If it has been frozen, it may not be frozen a second time; that wouldn’t be right.’
Fresh minced meat isn’t fresh
Is meat allowed to be frozen twice? According to the meat trader, it is; there are no regulations prohibiting it, and it happens regularly in the food industry. ‘If the meat is stored at the right temperature, it isn’t a problem at all.’ That leaves the surprise: when you buy minced meat at the supermarket, the meat may be up to two years old, while the packaging says: fresh. ‘That only means that it isn’t frozen,’ says the director of the meat factory. ‘You could call that a gimmick, yes.’
