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The regulation that is effective in the Czech Republic from last year imposes an obligation to specify in the label of packed beef meat– apart from other things – also the meat category, which is whether the meat comes from a bull or a cow. Under the Decree No. 326/2001, Coll. of L., issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, it is in responsibility of everybody releasing cut up beef meat into circulation, either packed or unpacked, to provide the meat label with such data that will inform consumers which head of cattle the meat comes from so that the consumers can buy meat of their own choice.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority carried out inspections focusing on the packed beef meat in August and September. The scope was to find out whether the labelling of beef meat sold in retail trade network is proper and truthful, and complies with the relevant regulation, and consequently the meat from ”a cow” is not described as meat from ”a bull”.

The inspectors took a total of 27 samples of packed beef meat that was designated as a category of ”bull” or ”bull-calf”. The samples were then laboratory analysed.

It is possible from the last year to prove, using a method developed at the State Veterinary Institute in Brno (SVI), whether a sample of beef meat comes from a male or female beef cattle. In a simplified fashion – if an analysis proves a sequence of DNA specific of chromosome Y, the sample comes from a bull. And vice versa, the absence of chromosome Y signals that the particular sample comes from a cow. Chromosome Y is characteristic for male heads of cattle, while it does not occur in female heads of cattle.

Although the press have previously informed about a potential false labelling of beef meat, the results of analyses carried out by the SVI in Brno did not confirm it – the labelling of all the samples taken was fully in compliance with the law. The packed beef meat is truthfully labelled and consumers are not deceived.

The Decree No. 326/2001, Coll. of L., issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, imposes, apart from other things, also further requirements for meat labelling. In addition to the basic data, the beef meat released into circulation, packed or unpacked, must be provided with a registration number of the animal, slaughterhouse approval number and carvery approval number, registration number of the last breed, date of slaughter, name of a country where the animal was born, fattened up and slaughtered. It is required to specify in beef meat from a bull, ox or cow the age of an animal in months and whether the cattle is young: bull-calf, ox-calf or young cow.