HISTORY OF THE MEAT SCALE LABEL

apcowboy

Founder of The Meat Cutter's Club

Status: Offline

Posts: 5562

Date: Sep 13, 2015

HISTORY OF THE MEAT SCALE LABEL

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Maine Meatman

HISTORY OF THE MEAT SCALE LABEL

Sixty years ago, meat cuts were sold from a service meat counter. To weigh meat or get a price, a store employee would place a cut of fresh meat on a scale; the price was then written on the package of wrapped meat. In the late 1950s, the movement in the meat industry went from the service meat case to a self-service meat case. Meat then had to be placed in meat trays and wrapped. With this advancement came the use of pre-pack scales and manual labeling systems that had a printer head with description keys. The user placed the meat on the scale and weighed the product. Next, the user entered the information into the labeler which created the label and placed it on the wrapped cut of meat. This was the birth of the first meat scale label.

The scale label brought about many legislative changes regarding meat labeling. The federal government wanted consistency and standards to ensure consumers were getting what they paid for. In 1966, Congress enacted the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) (15 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.). This act established package labeling requirements to help consumers get accurate information on the net quantity of the contents of packages and make value comparisons between packages of similar commodities. It required the identity of the product, the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor and the net quantity of contents to be placed on the package.

In 1973, the ICMISC (Industry wide Cooperative Meat Identification Standards Committee) created the URMIS system with agreed-upon terminology in defining cuts of fresh beef, pork, lamb and veal. This system was created to provide the required identity of the product and help eliminate consumer confusion by creating a standard which could be used by all retailers.

During this time the pre-pack scales and labeling systems were replaced with a one-unit scale/labeler that had some computing capabilities. The changes in technology provided a two-line product description and more fields for adding additional information to the scale label.

More legislative changes came about during this time period. The Wholesome Meat Act was created requiring that states have inspection programs "equal to" that of the federal government; this included requirements for false and deceptive labeling and misbranding practices.

During this time the chicken industry introduced pre-processed, case-ready products. This led to the development of branding in the meat industry. Branding brought about an ever-increasing number of grades and claims attributed to meat products, which had an impact on meat labeling. With these changes more amendments were made regarding requirements for claims, grading and branding. New amendments were added to the Code of Federal Regulations (9 CFR 317) supported by the Meat Inspection Act. Grades and claims provide product differentiation that suppliers and retailers use in marketing products. Retailers started using the scale label to communicate grades and claims to consumers.

Over the past twenty-five years, consumer demands changed to more convenience-type foods. With more people working and not cooking meals at home, proper safe-handling awareness on meat products diminished. With this decrease in awareness, the threat of food-borne illness from pathogenic bacteria became a problem; due to this, food safety legislation became necessary. In July of 1994, the FSIS created a mandate to have safe-handling instructions on all meat and poultry products. This addition of legislation to the Agricultural Labeling C.F.R. was an attempt to prevent food-borne illness and also created more uniformity in labeling in the meat industry.

The information that was once required on a package of meat 60 years ago has increased due to federal and state requirements. These changes are a direct result in consumer demand and safety of food. Over time, scale systems that provide scale labels have become more sophisticated. Technology, including scale system software, now exists that provides more fields on a scale label to organize information and market meat products effectively.

By understanding the history of the meat scale label, we see the transformation of the need for standardization and common terminology happen over time. In order to see how URMIS meets the current expectations of standard terminology, it is important to understand all of the requirements of a meat scale label and the governing organizations that oversee regulations.

The Meat Labeling Requirements and Guidelines section provides a convenient list with reference links to the appropriate regulations.

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Leon Wildberger

Executive Director

Frog

Veteran Member

Status: Offline

Posts: 25

Date: Sep 13, 2015

RE: HISTORY OF THE MEAT SCALE LABEL	Permalink

And to this day I still have customer ask if the meat is "safe" because they never noticed the safe handling before. __________________

KY LADY CUTTER

Veteran Member

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Posts: 92

Date: Sep 15, 2015

RE: HISTORY OF THE MEAT SCALE LABEL	Permalink

I remember the days when I was a wrapper, we use to have to put white safe sticker on each package, I was glad to see them put it on the label __________________