No meat legislation is a disgrace to the poor of South Africa

South Africa’s poor are currently bearing the brunt of meat legislation that just doesn’t exist. Furthermore, in a continuation of anti-poor legislation that has become the hallmark of our government, new legislation coming into effect next year will reduce the protein content of these so-called ‘meat’ products by 20%. Humans need protein to build their bodies and it appears the poor will be paying the same for less nutrition.

One assumes that they are buying beef mince for example, when shopping at their favourite retailer. It is not. It is being sold as beef mince but it is in fact from it. It would have been illegal before Aaron Motsoaledi removed the definition of meat on May 10 2019. Since then the big national retailers have jumped on this and are screwing their customers like only they can. The actual ingredients of what you think is beef mince, are MDM, water, beef kidney fat, soy protein isolate and spices.

MDM is mechanically deboned meat, a paste produced by putting chicken carcasses under high pressure through a thin sieve. Soya protein isolate, the vegan protein, is what is left after the oil is removed (this becomes margarine and frying oil). There are no foods near soya and its derivatives for estrogenic activity. Furthermore, the multi-species Brazilian rainforest is being cut down and replaced with a monoculture of soya. The poison Glyphosate is also what enables soya to be grown. The spices are all irradiated (ask the folk of Fukushima or Nagasaki if they approve of radiation) and contains lots of phosphates, which ensures that the water binds to the meat. Now you tell me, how can this ethically be sold as beef mince?

After the outbreak of the listeriosis in 2018, the previous minister of health’s repeal of all meat regulations on May 10 2019 seems to have been kept very quiet and I suspect the public have no idea of what is going on. And to make it worse, there was no new legislation introduced to replace it until April 4 2020. Until then we are all at the mercy of the processed meat industry and their patrons, the big national retailers.

Angus Mcintosh.

What is frightening is that South Africa is currently the unhealthiest country in the world according to the Indigo Wellness Index. Products such as Russians, polony, and various other processed meats are mostly what the poor consume for animal protein. The World Health Organization has declared that processed meats are known to cause cancer and increases your risk of bowel and stomach cancer. You might wonder why cancer is on the rise in South Africa.

Before the current regulations were scrapped, the South African meat industry abided by regulations that were first published on March 28 1930. These were regularly updated and formed the backbone of all other regulations and permitted additives. It has always been the basis of all formulation and labelling requirements of South African meat products.

These identified a 95% real meat processed product group (placed in a higher price bracket) and a 75% meat group (cost lower for the poor to access), some of which may have also been made from plant or animal origin proteins, oils and fats. The law specified how each of the above group could be prepared. The relationship of nitrogen, protein and Lean meat was used to calculate the lean meat equivalent content. It also covered vegan options made from plants only.

DAFF (The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) has said that in April it will enact new meat legislation, which will see a radical reduction in the current content of animal protein used in processed meats from 75% to 60% in the one group and from 95% to 90% in the other.

According to Dr Francois Mellet, a food scientist and director and founder of Functional Foods, who is an advisor to me, the much-appraised VC9100 promulgated by the DTI, which was publicly launched after the listeriosis outbreak, fails to address composition standards. He also points out that the implication is that the meat industry currently does not have to comply with any protein or fat content, while consumers of the 75% group are still purchasing these products for nourishment. Until the decrease from 75% to 60% is officially written into law, meat products may contain anything, except nutrition.

I do feel there is a better way to feed the poor of South Africa and in fact everyone who wants to eat highly nutritious protein. It won’t only solve our health and hunger crisis, but it will also contribute positively to alleviate our unemployment crisis by creating more job and self-employment opportunities. And that’s through a system called regenerative agriculture. It uses no chemicals, or fertilisers and works to build the soil through rotational grazing which also reverses climate change by storing carbon in the soil.

If more consumers said no to conventional farming methods, as after all every time you eat you choose your farmer, and rather support regenerative farmers then we would be eating nutrient-dense food from farmers who create employment and heal the earth through their farming methods.

Finally can someone please point out to Zweli Mkhize that he needs to undo what his predecessor did so that the poor can be protected from the retailers? He has the legal power to do this.

• Farmer Angus is one of two grass fed, pasture-reared beef producers in the Western Cape. His onsite butchery is, however, the only one processing the beef that is produced on his farm. It is the only butchery in the country that does not add nitrates, gluten and nitrites to the meat. All Farmer Angus products are also 100% growth-hormone free, routine antibiotic free and the pig and chicken food is glyphosate free.

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