Acting on a ban by the European Commission, the United Kingdom has issued a moratorium against the technique of stripping meat from animal bones, raising concerns over the future of cheap patties and burgers.

The banned process, typically known as the 'Desinewed Meat' removal technique, involves stripping scraps of cow and sheep meat from bones under low pressure, with the reconstituted product closely resembling minced meat.

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However, both the Food Standards Agency and European Commission stress that the DSM process poses no known risk to human health.

In a statement, the FSA said:

The FSA is clear that there is no evidence of any risk to human health from eating meat produced from the low-pressure DSM technique. There is no greater risk from eating this sort of produce than any other piece of meat or meat product. The EU Commission has informed us today they do not consider this to be an identified public health concern.

Instead, the European Commission ruled that DSM did not comply with the European Union's Single Market legislation, and had therefore required the UK to impose a moratorium on the technique by the end of April or risk a ban on UK meat exports.

Find out more about the "EU Single Market" concept here.

However, the DSM process may still be used to remove meat from poultry and pigs, but it must now be classed and specifically labelled as 'Mechanically Separated Meat' (MSM), and not simply as 'meat preparation'.

The DSM process has been used in the UK since the mid-1990s, and local meat producers say DSM is also exported by other EU countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

With the ban, cheap desinewed meat will have to be replaced with more expensive quality cuts, and industry players say consumers can expect an increase in the price of foods such as burgers, sausages and pies.

The British Meat Processors Association condemned the moratorium saying there are 'enormous implications' for producers and food manufacturers to 'bow down' to the European Commission.

The association estimates the total cost of related job losses and other impacts to be in the area of £200 million ($317 million).

BMPA director Stephen Rossides said:

This is a criminal waste of a valuable product at a time of a shortage of proteins, and when we are being urged to reduce food wastage. Common sense has gone out of the window.

Calling it a technical issue over classification that could be resolved, FSA Chief Tim Smith said the move was 'unexpected' but added that the EU's desire to harmonise processes across member states was understandable.

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