Minister Davies Requests Ncc to Launch An Urgent Investigation Into the Meat Labelling

The National Consumer Commission (Commission) is concerned about recent reports following the research findings of a study group at the University of Stellenbosch with regard to the content of various meat products in South Africa.

From the interviews as well as news reports, it appears that DNA samples drawn seem to indicate the presence of donkey, water buffalo, goat and other undisclosed meat products in certain processed foods which are available to consumers at retail stores in South Africa. The labelling of these products does not make full disclosure of the aforesaid meat content.

In terms of Section 24 of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), Consumers have a right to disclosure of information: this disclosure includes product labelling and trade descriptions. It is imperative that whatever is put out for human consumption must comply with the labelling and disclosure requirements as contained in the CPA. The Commission has a responsibility to monitor compliance with the relevant labelling requirements.

In terms of the CPA, each and every person/supplier within the value chain has a responsibility to ensure that when a trade description is applied to goods, they must not knowingly apply a trade description that is likely to mislead the consumer as to any matter implied or express in that trade description. Equally, a retailer may not also alter, deface...