Meat inspection audit puts mutton mislabelling rumours to rest

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

by DAVE PINK

An audit by the meat inspection branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has reassured the province’s sheep producers that mutton is not being mislabelled and sold as lamb.

The audit was initiated back in September by the Sheep Industry Advisory Committee, says committee chairman Elmer Buchanan, after farmers said they were hearing rumours that the less desirable and stronger tasting mutton was being wrongly labelled.

“There were musings,” says Buchanan. “And if that was happening, it could potentially hurt lamb sales.”

He says that no specific packing plants or food retailers were suspected, but that the advisory committee thought it was best to ask the advice of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Ontario ministry.

The ministry completed its audit of the industry earlier this year and concluded that no one is breaking the rules, says Buchanan. An information sheet based on the audit has been posted it on the ministry’s website.

“At the end of the day there were no concerns and the sheep producers were pleased,” says Buchanan.

In its final report, the investigators said: “Occasionally we hear of mutton being mislabelled as lamb. When this happens it can turn customers away from the business in question and harm the reputation of Ontario’s lamb industry.”

The report pointed out that provincially licensed meat plant operators are legally obligated to make sure their labels and advertising is “accurate, truthful, and not misleading or deceptive.” Violators can be fined $25,000 for a first offence, and $50,000 for a subsequent offence along with imprisonment of up to two years imprisonment. Corporations are subject to a $100,000 fine for a first offence and $200,000 for a subsequent offence.

In live animals, a lamb will have no more than one permanent incisor, while a mature sheep will have two or more.

In a carcass, a lamb’s joints are less well formed, appear slightly damp and reddish, and are more easily broken. A mature sheep’s joints are hardened and white.

As well, a lamb’s ribs tend to be rounded and red, while in a mature sheep they are flat and white. BF