T.C.
TARIM ve KÖYÝÞLERÝ BAKANLIÐI
Koruma ve Kontrol Genel Müdürlüğü
Communiqué On Fresh Meat, Prepared Meat and Prepared Meat Preparations 
Authorization Law: Turkish Food Codex
The Official Gazette: 10.02.2000-23960
Communication No : 2000/5
Objective
Article 1 – The objective of this Communiqué is to determine the specifications of fresh meat, prepared meat and meat preparations, to provide appropriate technical and hygienic conditions for their production, preparation, processing, storage, transportation and marketing.
Scope
Article 2 – This Communiqué covers the fresh meat, prepared meat, and prepared meat preparations and the fresh meat, prepared meat and prepared meat preparations to be used in the production of meat products, does not cover the meat produced for industrial purposes and mechanically recovered.
Legal Base
Article 3 – This Communiqué has been prepared in accordance with the Turkish Food Codex Regulation, published in the Official Gazette dated 16 November 1997, reiterated numbered 23172.
Definitions
Article 4 – In this Communiqué;
a- Meat; all parts of meat taken from bovine animals and ovine animals like cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, poultry (chicken, turkey, goose, duck, guinea fowl), rabbit and pig (swine) suitable for human consumption.
b- Non-edible parts of meat; parts of meat taken from the animals described in the definition of meat excluding the poultry; genital organs excluding the skin, glands, testis, eye and eyelid; urinary organs excluding kidney; the limbs like larynx cartilage, trachea, tissue of cornea, ear, toenail; the head, oesophagus, craw intestines, genital organs taken from poultry and remainder of offal preparation and diseased offal.
c- Fresh meat; meat which has not undergone any preservative treatment other than cold treatment is packaged meat appropriately wrapped by using a method such as packaging in modified atmosphere and/or vacuum packaging when necessary.
d- Frozen meat; meat which the internal temperature was decreased to -18ºC or down.
e- Carcass; the whole body of the slaughtered animals slaughtered by appropriate technique after bleding, evisceration, removal of the internal organs and limbs at the carpus and tarsus, removal of the head and cooled.
f- Poultry carcass; the whole body of the poultry, slaughtered by appropriate technique , bleeded, plucked, to be removed the internal organs to be cut its head and legs, washed, cooled and to be leaked its water.
g- Offal; The following parts taken from the animals included in the definition of meat excluding the poultry; liver, kidney, brain, spleen, testis, heart, tongue, external red muscle meat of oesophagus, muscle of diaphragm, tripe, intestine, trotters, head, organ and organ parts additionally parts taken from poultry, liver without gall bladder, heart, gizzard emptied and internal membrane taken, skin appeared during cutting into pieces.
h- Prepared fresh meat; mince meat, meat in small pieces, steak, cutlet, neck etc. made from the parts of carcass by cutting, chopping and cutting into pieces.
ý- Meat preparations; uncooked minced meat balls, "döner", "çið köfte", schnitzel etc. which contain other food, flavourings and / or additives that processed without harming the specifications of fresh meat and its inter cellular structure.
i- Mince meat; Product prepared by mincing the fresh meat by a mincing machine or cutting into very small pieces by other means.
j- Marination; treating the meat with salt, vegetable oil and flavourings where necessary.
k- Flavourings; spices for human consumption, aromatic plants or their extractions.
Product Specifications
Article 5 – The specifications of the product included in this Communiqué are given below;
a) Meat used in preparing the products included in this Communiqué should have a mark indicating that it passed from health control and suitable for human consumption.
b) The products included in this Communiqué are made of ovine, bovine, swine, poultry and rabbit, meat that are suitable for human consumption.
c) In the production of prepared meat preparations no offal is added to the preparations made of carcass meat. But poultry skin taken when cutting into pieces can be used in preparing products of only its own kind because of technological requirements.
d) In producing mince meat, only carcass meat taken from cattle, sheep, goat, swine and fresh meat of domestic poultry and rabbit should be used. In producing mince meat dirty and suspicious pieces should not be used. If poultry gizzard is used in preparing mince meat an indication “Mince meat made of gizzard” should be put as the product name.
e) Scroptrimmings or mechanically recovered meat must not be used in the preparation of mince meat.
f) Mince meat should not contain the pieces of bone.
g) If the time duration from meat to be taken to production place and to be processed to prepared meat and prepared meat preparations to the application of cooling and deep freezing process does not exceed 1 hour the internal temperature of meat should not exceed +7°C and the ambient temperature should not exceed +12 °C. However meat should not be used in the case of time exceeding for 1 hour unless its internal temperature decreases to +4°C.
h) Fresh meat, prepared meat and prepared meat preparations must be packaged following the processing under hygienic conditions.
ý) If the cooled meat is in carcass form, they should be processed to mince meat in maximum 6 days time starting from slaughtering time, if they are vacuumed or in boneless meat form, in maximum 15 days time starting from slaughtering time.
i) Excluding the cases at which internal temperature to be decreased more for processing requirements, the mince meat must be packaged in portions and cooled within one hour time.
j) Packaged minced meat should be presented for consumption only if its internal temperature is decreased as quickly as possible to +2°C if it is cooled and -18°C if it is deep frozen.
k) Mince meat must be frozen only once.
l) The composition of mince meat must comply with Annex – 1.
m) Prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations in packages must be presented for selling as quickly as possible. In the case they are made of mince meat, the internal temperature must be decreased to + 2ºC, in the case they are made of fresh meat, the internal temperature must be decreased to + 7ºC, in the case they are made of poultry meat should be decreased to + 4ºC , in the case they are made of offal should be decreased to + 3ºC or if they are in deep frozen form the internal temperature should be decreased to - 18ºC.
n) Prepared meat and prepared meat preparations must be frozen only once, and must presented to consumption with a shelf life not exceeding 18 months of shelf life maximum. Prepared meat preparations should not be frozen again if they are made of frozen meat.
Additives
Article 6 – The values of additives used in prepared meat preparations must comply with Section 2 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
a) No additives are used in mince meat.
Contaminants
Article 7 – Contaminant used in fresh meat, prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations must comply with Section 4 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
Pesticide Residues
Article 8 – Pesticide residue values in the fresh meat, prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations must comply with Section 5 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
Residue Levels of Veterinary Drug Residues.
Article 9 – Tolerance levels of veterinary drugs in the fresh meat, prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations must comply with Section 6 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
Hygiene
Article 10 – In addition to the Section 7 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
a) Microbiological criteria of the prepared fresh meat must comply with Annex 2.
b) Microbiological criteria of the prepared meat preparations must comply with the Annex 3.
c) In the case application of ionised radiation or ultraviolet to the meat products, this process must comply with the Food Irradiation Regulation published in Official Gazette dated 6 November 1999 with reiterated number 23868.
Packaging and Labelling – Marking
Article 11 – The rules related with the labelling and marking of the prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations are as follows:
a) Packing material used in fresh meat, prepared meat and prepared meat preparations must comply with Section 9 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
b) In addition to the provisions of Turkish Food Codex Regulation on labelling
- The species from which fresh meat are made of prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations must be given in percentages.
- Mince meat and meat mixtures prepared from mince meat should have an indication “Maximum fat % ........” and “colagen / meat protein ratio maximum ........”
- In the products, which are not presented to the consumers in addition to the provision of Turkish Food Codex Regulation, production date must also be written on the package.
Transportation and Storage
Article 12 – In addition to the Section 10 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation.
a) In the case deep frozen meat is used in meat preparations, storage time of the mentioned meat must not exceed after slaughtering 18 months for cattle meat, 12 months for sheep and goat meat, 6 months for poultry, swine and other meat.
b) Fresh meat, prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations must be stored at temperatures given in sub-paragraph i and l.
Sampling and Methods of Analysis
Article 13 – In sampling fresh meat, prepared fresh meat and prepared meat preparations from the production line and storage rooms, must comply with the rules given Section 11 of the Turkish Food Codex Regulation. Samples must be analysed according to the internationally accepted methods.
Registration and Inspection
Article 14 – Establishments producing and selling the products included in this Communiqué obliged to obey the provisions from the date starting one year after the publication of this Communiqué. Legal process will be started, for the establishment not obeying these provisions according to the provisions of Decree Law No 560, dated 24 June 1995.
Inspection
Article 15 – The inspection related with the provisions of this Communiqué is carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Health according to the Decree Law No 560, dated 24 June 1995.
Repealed Legislation
Article 16 – TS (Turkish Standard) 208 Intestine Standard published in the Official Gazette dated 20 April 1966 and numbered 12279, was repealed from obligatory enforcement by this Communiqué.
Provisinal Article 1 – Establishment producing and selling the products included in this Communiqué must obey the provisions starting one year after the publication of this Communiqué. No permission is issued for the establishments and markets not completing necessary order. For such establishments legal process is started according to the provisions of the Decree Law No 560, dated 24 June 1995.
Enforcement
Article 17 – This Communiqué enters in force in the date of publication.
Execution
Article 18 – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Health execute the provision of this Communiqué.
ANNEX – 1
COMPOSITION OF THE MINCE MEAT
| Percentage of Fat | Calogen / Meat Protein Ratio | |
| Fat free mince meat | £ % 7 | £ 12 |
Medium fat mince meat |
£ % 20 | £ 15 |
| Fat mince meat | £ % 25 | £ 15 |
| High fat mince meat | £ % 35 | £ 18 |
ANNEX –2
MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR PREPARED FRESH MEAT
| m | M* | |
| Aerobic mesophyll bacteria (cfu/g) n=5 c=2 |
5 x 105 | 5 x 106 |
| Escherichia coli (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
50 | 5 x 102 |
| Escherichia coli 0.157 h7 (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
None | |
| Staphylococcus aureus (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 2 |
102 | 5 x 103 |
| Salmonella (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
None in per 25 g. | |
n : Number of test samples
c : Maximum number of test samples acceptable, containing microorganism numbers between m and M.
m : Maximum number of microorganism acceptable in 1 gram of (n-c) number of test samples.
M: Maximum number of microorganism acceptable in 1 gram of n number of test samples.
* Value given in the tableau is for solid medium, for liquid medium this value is taken as 30 M.
ANNEX –3
MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR MEAT PREPARATÝONS
| m | M* | |
| Escherichia coli (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
5 x 102 | 5 x 103 |
| Escherichia coli 0.157 h7 (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
None | |
| Staphylococcus aureus (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 1 |
5 x 102 | 5 x 103 |
| Salmonella (cfu/g) n = 5 c = 0 |
None in per 25 g. | |
n : Number of test samples
c : Maximum number of test samples acceptable, containing microorganism numbers between m and M.
m : Maximum number of microorganism acceptable in 1 gram of (n-c) number of test samples.
M: Maximum number of microorganism acceptable in 1 gram of n number of test samples.
- Value given in the tableau is for solid medium, for liquid medium
- this value is taken as 30 M.
Official Gazette: 17.03.2001- 24345
Communiqué on the Amendment of Communiqué of Fresh Meat, Prepared Meat and Prepared Meat Preparations
(Communiqué No: 2001/7)
Article 1- Annex-2 and Annex-3 of the Turkish Food Codex Communiqué of Fresh Meat, Prepared Meat and Prepared Meat Preperations, published in Official Gazette dated 10/02/2000 with reiterated number 23960, have been amended as follows:
ANNEX-2
MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR PREPARED FRESH MEATS –PREPARED FROZEN MEATS
| n | c | m | M | |
| Aerobic mesophyllic bacteria (kob/g) | 5 | 2 | 5 X 103 | 5 X 106 |
| Escherichia coli (kob/g) | 5 | 2 | 5 X 101 | 1 X 102 |
| Escherichia coli O157:H7 (kob/g) | 5 | 0 | Must not be present | |
| Staphylococcus aureus (kob/g) | 5 | 2 | 1 X 102 | 5 X 103 |
| Salmonella (kob) | 5 | 0 | Must not be present in 25 g |
ANNEX-3
MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR PREPARED FRESH MEATS – MIXTURES OF PREPARED FROZEN MEATS
| n | C | m | M | |
| Escherichia coli (kob/g) | 5 | 2 | 1 X 102 | 1 X 103 |
| Escherichia coli O157:H7 (kob/g) | 5 | 0 | Should not be present | |
| Staphylococcus aureus (kob/g) | 5 | 2 | 5 X 102 | 5 X 103 |
| Salmonella (kob) | 5 | 0 | Should not be present in 25 g | |
n: number of test sample
c: maximum number of acceptable test sample containing microorganism in number between m and M
m: maximum number of acceptable microorganism that may be present in 1 gram of number (n-c) test sample
M: maximum number of acceptable microorganism that may be present in 1 gram of number c test sample
Provisional Article 1- Presently active establishments producing and selling the products covered in this Communiqué are obliged to obey the provisions of this Communiqué within 1 year.
Enforcement
Article 2- This Communiqué enters into force on the date of publication.
Execution
Article 3- This Communiqué is executed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Minister of Health.