Appendix 1 Production Specification Guidance

The following minimum standards shall apply to all BMPA Quality Assured Bacon and Gammon products: 

• The surface of the product shall be clean and free from extraneous matter including tar.
• Rind, where present, shall be clean, free of bruises, hair and stubble.
• The lean shall be of a good colour, free of bruising, mis-cure, bone fragments, and excessive levels of blood spots.
• The fat shall be firm and white and no evidence of bruising, separation, softness or discolouration.
• The product shall show no signs of spoilage e.g. odour, colour or taste
• The product shall be virtually free of jelly pockets, excessive moisture and separation of lean and fatty tissues.
• Where rind or rind plus back fat have been added to the product, this shall adhere securely to the meat.
• Bacon shall be free of bone splinters, bone-dust and loose debris.
• In moulded products, the lean meat shall retain its intrinsic muscle structure.

Guidance

The mis-curing of product can adversely affect the appearance of product. This may be caused by poor distribution of cure, insufficient curing time, or by blocked injection needles that can cause a problem referred to as “tiger stripping” where the needle pattern is clearly visible in the lean muscle of the product being produced”.

Refer to the BMPA/PTF Bacon Code of Practice for further information and guidance.

Evidence

Visual inspection of product.

Whole bone-in sides, three-quarter sides (sides less the fore-end) and Spencer’s sides less the gammon, the bacon shall comply, as a minimum, with the following specification listed in clauses 1.3 to 1.7:

Evidence

Verify carcase classification records. Visual inspection of product.

1.3.1 For cured fore-ends the product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean at cut face minimum 70% VL

1.3.2 For fore-end joints, steaks and rashers, products derived from bacon fore-ends in their natural form, or from fore-ends or fore-end meat which has been formed by pressing into moulds or casings and possibly heat-treated or smoked, shall comply with the following specification:

• The product shall retain its integral muscle structure. 
• The product shall comply with the following minimum standards for leanness (Minimum, % VL):

• The lean meat may be encased in an added covering of back fat and or rind.

Evidence

Visual inspection of product.

1.4.1 For middles, the product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean (overall) minimum 70% VL
• Visual lean (in streak) minimum 55% VL
• Eye muscle depth at deepest point minimum 50mm
• Fat depth over eye-muscle maximum 10mm (Maximum 12mm including rind)

For air dried and dry cured product, due to significant shrinkage during maturation, an exemption from the above allowances for eye muscle depth has been granted. Therefore: Eye muscle depth at deepest point: minimum 40mm. The middle may be rind-on.

1.4.2 The middle may be separated into back and streak by a straight cut parallel to the dorsal (loin) edge, to yield a back of approximate 20cm width.

1.4.3 For lardons/pancetta, the product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean minimum 55% VL
• The quality attribute specification (QAS) shall specify dice dimensions, the agreed level of variance, and state the quantity of allowable fines which shall not exceed 10% of the pack by weight.

Evidence

Visual inspection of product

1.5.1 Product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean (overall) minimum 75% VL
• Visual lean (in prime) minimum 80% VL
• Eye Muscle depth at deepest point minimum 50mm
• Fat depth over eye muscle maximum 10mm (maximum 12mm including rind)

1.5.2 For rashers from the back, product shall comply with the following specification:

• Eye muscle depth at deepest point minimum 50mm
• Fat depth over eye muscle maximum 10mm (maximum 12mm including rind)

1.6.1 The product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean (overall) minimum 55% VL

1.6.2 The flank may have been removed and the belly edge trimmed back.

Evidence

Visual inspection of product

1.7.1 The product shall comply with the following specification:

• Visual lean at cut face minimum 75% VL

1.7.2 For gammon joints, steaks and rashers, products derived from boneless gammons in their natural shape or from gammons or gammon meat which has been formed by pressing into moulds or casings and possibly heat-set shall comply with the following specification:

• The product shall have retained its integral muscle structure.
• Joints (excluding hock) Minimum 85% VL
• Steaks Minimum 85% VL
• Rashers Minimum 85% VL

The product may have been encased in an added covering of rind and/or back fat.

Evidence

Visual inspection of product.

1.8.1 Bacon chops shall be derived from bone-in or boneless primal backs of bacon. 

1.8.2 The product shall comply with the following specification: 

• Length of chop Maximum 20cm
• Visual Lean Minimum 80% (excluding bone if present)
• Eye Muscle depth Minimum 50mm at deepest point
• Fat depth over eye-muscle Maximum 10mm (or maximum 12mm if rind included)

Evidence

Visual inspection of product.