"BIOVELA Group's position on the quality and labelling of packaged fresh meat

Published on VŽ portal Article on the quality of fresh meat and the allegedly widespread practice of injecting meat on the market, states that almost 100% of packaged fresh meat on sale is injected. Food quality is always an important topic, but it is particularly important to distinguish between facts and assumptions when discussing it in the public sphere.

First of all, it is important to be clear: "Fresh meat supplied by the BIOVELA Group is not injected. We do not use additional water, brines or any other technological solution to increase the weight of the product or to alter its natural properties. This is a consistent part of the BIOVELA Group's quality policy and one of the principles that guide our work with supermarkets and end users.

In addition, European Union requirements stipulate that fresh meat is a natural product that cannot be treated with water or other substances. If water, brine or other ingredients are injected into the meat during the technological process, it can no longer be considered fresh meat and must be labelled accordingly.

As the largest meat producer in Lithuania, we constantly monitor the market and conduct product research. We have not observed any injection practices by the largest Lithuanian fresh meat producers supplying supermarkets. However, we have recorded cases where fresh meat supplied by foreign suppliers has an additional water content that has not been declared on the product labelling.

"The BIOVELA Group has invested for many years in quality, production efficiency and consumer confidence. Therefore, when discussing problems in the market, we should be precise about the scale and origin of the problems, so that individual cases do not become unjustified generalisations about producers across the country.