DOMESTIC RETAIL BEEF REGISTER 

AUS-MEAT is pleased to announce the publication of the First Edition of the Domestic Retail Beef Register which has now been incorporated to form part of the Australian Meat Industry Classification System (Manual 1) (2009 Edition).

This Register is designed to allow supply chain trade description information applied to beef sourced by a retail business to be accurately converted to applicable descriptors for retail sale to consumers.

The Register is intended to provide a comprehensive reference source of the applicable descriptors of Beef for use in consumer retail sale. All terms and descriptors used in this Register have the same meaning as the corresponding term or descriptor in the AUS-MEAT Language unless otherwise stated.

This Register includes a dynamic list of Domestic retail cut descriptions common to the domestic retail sales including:
- Applicable retail terminology and descriptions derived from the AUS-MEAT Language that are clear and not misleading to the consumer about the description of Beef being purchased;
- Supplementary information that can be used for display, distribution or a promotional purpose that is accurate and can be verified to be sourced from product that conforms with industry standards or relevant codes of practice; and
- Provision for the use of approved "Private Terms" to facilitate innovation or legitimate competition in the promotion of beef products to Australian retail consumers.

The applicable descriptors within this Register are classified as follows:

Section 2 Basic Beef Categories
Section 3 Alternate Beef Categories
Section 4 Recognised Industry Grading Schemes
                 (i) MSA
                 (ii) Budget Grade Beef
Section 5 Supplementary Descriptors
Section 6 List of Retail Primal and Sub-primal Cut Descriptions
Section 7 Restricted Terminologies

The Register provides a minimum requirement for the description of Beef in accordance with Basic Category. Further description using Alternate Categories and/or Supplementary Descriptors is optional however, the use of such terms must be consistent with this Register. Where applicable, the Register provides for the use of a number of commonly recognised alternate descriptors to allow for commercial flexibility and product innovation.

This Register details the applicable Retail Terminologies which correspond to the supply chain trade description information which may be applied to Beef sourced by a retail business.

By describing product in a manner consistent with this Register, a retail business can demonstrate that descriptions and claims applied to beef products for retail sale are verifiable with the product from which it is derived.

A copy of the register is available to download here.