The new rules for the production of bacon began to apply this Wednesday (1st) across the country. According to an ordinance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, only products made from pork belly will be considered bacon. Previously, it could be obtained with adjacent muscles, without bone, accompanied by the words “special” or “extra” in its sales designation.
The standard is now valid for establishments and industries registered with the SIF (Federal Inspection Service) and the Brazilian System of Inspection of Products of Animal Origin (Sisbi-POA).
The “revision of the Technical Regulation of Identity and Quality of Bacon”, known by the acronym RTIQ, provides that products obtained from intact cuts of pork loin, leg or shoulder, manufactured in a process similar to that of bacon, will have a sales denomination with the indication of the product’s original anatomical cut.
Like, for example, “cut denomination” bacon. In addition, the inclusion of other sayings and allusions to bacon in the product labeling will be prohibited.
Another update was on optional ingredients. Now the elaboration can count on mono and disaccharide carbohydrates; maltodextrin; condiments and spices; water; food additives and technology adjuvants, provided for in specific legislation of the health regulatory body and authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture; and hyposodium salts.
In the old regulations, it was composed of proteins of animal or vegetable origin, sugars, maltodextrin and condiments, aromas and spices.
“The review implies updating the production processes to facilitate procedures related to registration, automatically, and harmonize the inspection of bacon quality. In this way, the new regulation brings more security to users in the public and private sectors and meets the demand for transparency and controls from civil society”, highlights the director of the Department of Inspection of Products of Animal Origin, Ana Lúcia Viana.
Establishments registered with the Ministry of Agriculture will have a period of one year to comply with the conditions set out in the new regulation. Products manufactured by the end of the adaptation period may be marketed until the end of their validity period.
