The Committee discussed in detail the definition of the term "meat" for the labelling of meat-based products in the revised proposal for the Draft Directive. There was general agreement about the draft definition of the category name "meat". Various options were considered for the labelling of "mechanically separated meat" as ingredient; eventually, there was consensus to retain the wording of the draft as proposed by DG Sanco (i.e. "mechanically separated meat" would have to be labelled as such and could not be labelled as "meat").
There was strong opposition, amongst the Members of the Committee, to the proposal to use a category name for animal parts other than those in the category "meat" (e.g. "offal" or "meat by-products").
The positions of the Member States on maximum limits for fatty matter and connective tissue for the category "meat" were brought closer together as a result of the discussion but no consensus could be reached at this stage.