But is it real boerewors?
● With braai day just around the corner, the government has issued updated regulations on the ingredients for genuine boerewors.
But a butchery owner has warned that the laws may result in an increase in prices of certain products, and the SA Meat Producers Association (Sampa) said tighter enforcement is needed to ensure compliance with the new raw-meat regulations.
Last week the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development published updated rules that stipulate ingredients in raw-meat products such as boerewors, minced meat and burgers.
Boerewors is one of SA’s most popular meat products and, according to the regulations, must be made from the meat of a domesticated animal of the bovine (cattle), ovine (sheep), porcine (pork) or caprine (goat) species, or from a mixture of at least two of them.
In addition, boerewors must have a total meat content of at least 90%, consist of
30% fat, and contain no edible or inedible offal, except where offal is used as the casing of the raw boerewors.
The products may not contain colourants, but may include cereal or starch, vinegar, spices, herbs and salt, food additives, and water.
Jose Milho, who runs Tip Top Meat, which makes a range of meat products under brands such as SuperSaver and
Moja, said packaging and ingredients of certain items will have to be changed and renamed, and this will incur costs that the company may pass on to consumers.
“There are some products that will require more meat, while previously soya was used as a substitute to give a cheaper price but still good quality. Now we have to remove that and add meat, it will make the product [more] expensive,” said Milho.
He is concerned about the feedback from consumers. “Will the consumers understand that they are getting a much better product? I don’t think so given that they are under [financial] pressure. To them it will just be another price increase. That’s the only negative,” he said.
Tip Top Meat has 180 employees and supplies independent retailers, catering industries and some companies’ canteens.
Still, Milho said the regulations are good for the industry “as long as it puts everyone on an equal footing”.
“What normally happens with a change like this is the bigger companies become the first targets. It’s easy to monitor big firms, but what about smaller and independent producers; how will they be
policed?”
Sampa group CEO Peter Gordon said the industry welcomed the regulations, which he said were not entirely new. Regulations for boerewors and sausage have been in place for years but the latest regulations consolidated other raw-meat products.
He said the industry was fragmented and some of the products had their own regulations while others did not. “There are 13 categories covered by the regulations ... it’s easier now for the industry to have one document with an explanation of what they need to do.”
He also added that enforcement and standards were lacking and “we are hoping that the food safety agency will actively and effectively enforce regulations”.
Gordon said the industry was segmented in the way it described products and this was confusing for consumers.
“I don’t think consumers understand the difference between boerewors and braaiwors. New regulations have structured those names and descriptions ... products will fall into very specific composition categories and that is good for consumers. You will have more honest labelling by the retail and butchery sectors,” he added.
Braaiwors contains less meat and can contain colourants, as well as other additives.
According to the regulations, raw species sausage or raw species wors can be made from the meat of a specific domesticated animal, bird or wild game species.
It must have a minimum total meat content of 75% provided that in the case of raw species sausage manufactured predominantly from the meat of a specific domesticated animal, bird or wild game species, a minimum of 75% thereof shall consist of the meat of the predominant species, and a maximum of 25% thereof may consist of the meat of any one or more domesticated animal.
It shall have similar fat content as boerewors and may contain other foodstuffs.
Regulations also include minced meat and burger patties.
Gordon doesn’t expect the costs of making these products as stipulated in the regulations to increase “if they were making it to the requirements of the law [before the newly gazetted one]”.
He said the main issue is that “there were a lot of unscrupulous producers who were calling products boerewors but having 70% or 65% meat content. Now we expect prosecution of those selling products that don’t meet the required standards. This is a great regulation that is long overdue and I am sure there are a few dodgy operators who will be worried about this”.
Agriculture department spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said officials will monitor compliance and companies that do not adhere to the law will be prosecuted.
The Consumer Goods Council of SA said: “We are still analysing the latest regulations even though we understand that the overall aim is to ensure regulatory compliance and food safety.”