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Compulsory Beef Labelling Scheme


    Welcome to the Beef Labelling Scheme

    Beef labelling is a European Community (EC) wide scheme, which is intended to provide buyers with clear, reliable information about fresh and frozen beef (including veal) on sale. All beef and beef products must be labelled to ensure full traceability back to the point of origin at all stages of production and sale. BLS is the abbreviated title for this scheme.

    The rules of this compulsory scheme require that an enforcement system be established in each Member State, to ensure that beef labelling procedures are being correctly applied. Ministers have decided that in England and Wales this should be achieved through a system of inspection visits by the Livestock and Meat Inspectorate to those slaughterhouses, cutting plants, catering butchers and cold stores with repackaging facilities, which are not checked by Local Authority Trading Standards.

    Inspectors from the L & M Inspectorate complete compliance reports and sent them to Meat Technical Schemes for checking and input on to a database. Results are sent quarterly to DEFRA.

    Page published: 4 August 2011