Where does my meat come from?
Carola Felchner is a freelance writer in the medical department and a certified training and nutrition advisor. She worked for various specialist magazines and online portals before becoming a freelance journalist in 2015. Before starting her internship, she studied translation and interpreting in Kempten and Munich.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.It should be interesting for consumers where their meat comes from, and not just since the Corona outbreak at the meat manufacturer Tönnies. However, the origin is not easy to trace.
The news about corona outbreaks in German slaughterhouses are unsettling: How can consumers tell which company the meat they buy comes from? And can you get infected through the meat?
Find the authorization number online
A first indication of the origin is the oval identity label on the packaging, reports the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center.
It indicates in which EU country - for example DE for Germany - and in which federal state the product was last processed or packaged. For example, NW stands for North Rhine-Westphalia. With the help of the five-digit approval number, the operation can be determined via a database of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL).
If, for example, there is no five-digit number on the packaging, consumers can also enter the company name in the database and have the associated company numbers displayed. However, this search reaches its limits when it comes to processed foods or finished products: Here, the origin of individual ingredients can hardly be traced for consumers.
No corona over food
As far as the risk of infection through meat is concerned: So far there has been no scientific evidence that people could become infected with the coronavirus through consumption or through contact with contaminated food, explains Bernhard Burdick, nutrition expert at the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia. The transmission of the disease via surfaces is also very unlikely, since the viruses are only poorly stable in the environment.
Meat selection, storage and preparation
Basically: Meat should not be eaten raw, but only well heated - regardless of which slaughterhouse it comes from. More tips for choosing meat:
- Meat quality: Consumers recognize fresh meat by its smell, surface, color and marbling. Anyone who opts for organic meat supports animal-friendly husbandry.
- Continuous cooling: Raw meat should be transported and stored in a cool place - in the best case not warmer than 4 degrees Celsius. Cool bags and rechargeable batteries are well suited for transport. Pathogenic germs present on the surface of the meat can then only multiply slowly. On the other hand, many bacteria multiply particularly quickly between 10 and 65 degrees Celsius - including those that can cause food infections such as diarrhea.
- Storage: The best place for meat in the refrigerator is the glass plate above the vegetable compartment. In the case of packaged meat from the supermarket that is stored in the refrigerator for longer than a day, the refrigeration temperature recommended on the packaging - often a maximum of two degrees - must be observed. Otherwise the best-before date is no longer valid.
- Unpacked meat from the butcher should be prepared on the same day or the following day at the latest. If the meat is to be prepared later, it is better to freeze it in the meantime or buy packaged goods.
- Preparation in the kitchen: Raw meat should only be taken out of the refrigerator shortly before preparation. The meat must not be left unrefrigerated on the table for long. If you have larger amounts of meat, use a small amount first and get more from the refrigerator if necessary.
Raw meat should never come into contact with other foods that are not heated. This is particularly true for raw poultry meat: this is particularly often contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and is very perishable. Anyone who has touched raw meat should therefore wash their hands thoroughly and dry them before touching anything else. (caf / dpa)
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