Consumer Groups Want Chicken Parts Included On Label

After the large chunks of meat have been removed, chickens destined to be hot dogs, bologna and sausages are reduced to a thick, smooth paste.

It’s called “mechanically separated” or “mechanically deboned” poultry, and it consists of meat, bones and maybe skin, passed through a grinder, crushed into small pieces and pushed through a fine screen. The tiny sex glands and kidneys of young chickens may be included, too.

The process has been used since 1969, when the National Academy of Sciences found it safe and the Department of Agriculture gave poultry producers the go-ahead. About 700 million pounds of mechanically separated poultry is used each year to make franks, bologna, sausages, nuggets and patties, according to the USDA.

Nevertheless, the use of mechanically separated poultry has been a contentious issue over the years, and here’s why: The labels on these products simply say they contain “chicken” or “turkey,” and they do not list any of the potentially unappetizing animal parts that may be included.

Various parties have cried foul over the lack of more specific disclosure, starting with a group of red-meat sausage companies that sued the USDA in 1986. The manufacturers maintained they were being “grossly discriminated against,” according to their lawyer, attorney James Kefauver, because in the early 1980s the USDA passed a regulation requiring that all products containing mechanically separated meat (beef, pork, lamb) declare it on the label.

“In my opinion, there is no legal basis that justifies disparate treatment of mechanically separated meat from mechanically separated poultry,” Kefauver says. The group of beef and pork processors dropped the suit after the USDA promised to remedy the situation but refiled it when no action had been taken by 1993.

Late last year, the USDA proposed that the term “mechanically separated poultry” be included in the ingredient list of products containing it. The department is expected to issue a final regulation soon.

Meanwhile, a coalition of consumer groups last month initiated an ad campaign urging consumers to tell the USDA “you want all the ingredients listed on processed poultry.”

The ad asks consumers to donate money to the Truth in Food Labeling Campaign to help make sure that the “Clinton administration doesn’t chicken out” in its final regulation.

The groups - Public Voice, the National Consumers League, Citizens Action and the Consumer Federation of America - say it’s not enough to simply list “mechanically separated” poultry on the label, since most people won’t know what it is. “We think the actual ingredients should be listed on the label,” said Bob Hahn, director of legal affairs at Public Voice.

Ken May, a consultant for the National Broiler Council, said products made from mechanically separated poultry are safe and wholesome and that suggesting that the product labels list every body part used to make it “is going ridiculously far” - just “one more fight to raise money so that they can save somebody from something they don’t need.”

The National Turkey Federation had a similar reaction. Joel Brandenberger, director of legislative affairs for the trade association, said the ad was “an unnecessary scare tactic” and that if the consumer groups were really looking out for the public’s interest, they would have indicated who people should write to at the USDA. “It seemed more like a fund-raiser than a piece to rally consumers,” Brandenberger said.

The chicken and turkey groups do not agree with the USDA’s proposal to require the term “mechanically separated” on poultry products, arguing it is unnecessary and confusing. Consumer research conducted on behalf of the turkey federation showed some support for the term “finely ground.”

Mark Epstein, president of Public Voice, defended the consumer organizations’ campaign, which will address other food labeling controversies in the future. “None of these groups can afford the type of advertising campaign that the food industry can run,” he said. “We want to draw attention to issues and make the public aware.”