Regulation (EC) 853/2004 defines Meat products as " processed products resulting from the processing of meat or from the further processing of such processed products, so that the cut surface shows that the product no longer has the characteristics of fresh meat."
All meat, including minced meat and meat preparations, used to produce meat products must meet the requirements for fresh meat. However, minced meat and meat preparations used to produce meat products need not satisfy other specific requirements as set out in Section V, of Annex III for Minced meat, meat preparations and mechanically separated meat of Regulation (EC) 853/2004.
Food business operators (FBOs) must ensure that the following items are not used in the preparation of meat products:
- genital organs of either female or male animals, except testicles
- urinary organs, except the kidneys and the bladder
- the cartilage of the larynx, the trachea and the extra-lobular bronchi
- eyes and eyelids
- the external auditory meatus
- horn tissue; and
- in poultry, the head - except the comb and the ears, the wattles and caruncles - the oesophagus, the crop, the intestines and the genital organs.