Pretoria - Consumers can expect to pay much higher prices for poultry from September, the SA Poultry Association said yesterday.
Association head Kevin Lovell said this was in part due to the drought, but also a result of new regulations introduced in the poultry industry, which the association expressed its dissatisfaction with.
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The concern centred mostly on affordability.
“We are not against regulations. We actually asked for them in 2006, but are disappointed in the outcomes, which, in our view, are not good for the industry, consumers or retailers,” Lovell told a National Press Club briefing in Pretoria.
The major differences in the new regulation that Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana approved concerned brining, he said.
Brining is a water-based solution of salt and other ingredients which is standard for most fast-food products.
Part of the new regulations is that the total brine injection allowed for whole carcasses is limited to a maximum of 10 percent, up from 8 percent. In addition, the total injection allowed for individual portions is limited to a maximum of 15 percent.
Lovell said what is needed is certainty that everything in the market is as it should be, and that consumers are sure of what they are getting.
PRETORIA NEWS