Conditional Use of Chicken Paste Allowed

The green light for the use of chicken paste in sausages and other meat products has been given after long disputes between Iranian health officials.

The Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, Ministry of Health and Iran’s Veterinarian Organization came to an agreement after three and a half years of disputes over the issue, the chairman of board of directors at Tehran’s Union of Producers of Egg-Laying Chicken said.

“Based on the agreement, the slaughtering of chickens whose paste is to be used is done under the supervision of Iran’s Veterinarian Organization and on condition that their bones are completely separated,” Nasser Nabipour was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

Vahid Marandi Moqaddam with the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran told IRNA that the use of chicken paste is permitted with the proviso that only chickens approved by IVO be used, the paste be produced in sausage factories, not be transferred between production units, unauthorized tissues such as intestines and liver be dumped, and be produced and used on the same day.

“Producers are allowed to use 40-60% chicken paste in sausages. They must inform consumers of the products in which chicken paste were used by labeling them with yellow covers saying ‘Sausage Made with Chicken Paste’,” he said.

The Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran will soon announce the date of implementing the new rules.

The use of chicken paste in meat products has been a controversial issue in Iran and the subject of heated debate for long.

ISIRI banned the use of chicken paste in sausage production on July 23, 2011, due to the use of chicken waste in the paste, including skin and bone.