[Index]
"Waiter, is this a "banjo" I see on the menu?"
UNECE draws up international language
for (ovine) meat cuts
Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards
58th session, 29 - 31 October 2002, Geneva
Geneva, 8 November 2002
Meat cuts and their names can vary considerably from country to country. This
not only causes confusion and annoyance to the consumer, but can also create
unnecessary trade barriers. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE), through its Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards*, has
just drawn up a new sheep (ovine) meat standard, with the help of all major
producer countries. The standard will allow traders to know that they are
speaking the same language when they talk about: "banjo cuts", "oyster cuts",
"spare ribs" or "tenderloins". It also includes a comprehensive coding system
for use in electronic trade.
For further information, please contact:
Tom Heilandt
Agricultural Standards Unit
Trade Development and Timber Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 24 50
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 00 41
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/trade/agr
Note
* Formerly called the Working Party on Standardization
of Perishable Produce and Quality Development, the Working Party on Agricultural
Quality Standards is responsible for drawing up harmonized commercial quality
standards for perishable produce. Their work is intended to facilitate international
trade through the establishment and maintenance of commercial quality criteria
in the form of standards which are indicative of actual commercial practice.
The UNECE standards on perishable produce represent a harmonization of existing
national commercial standards to take into account common commercial quality
and trade practices. It is not the aim of the Working Party to create new
principles of commercial standardization.
The standards establish the definition of
the produce, levels of quality by means of minimum characteristics and quality
classes, size classifications, marking, packaging and presentation requirements
for the purpose of promoting orderly and efficient trade by providing a common
trading language. The standards are intended for application at the point
of export/dispatching control.
Ref: ECE/TRADE/02/10