Australian meat substitution scandal

The Australian meat substitution scandal of 1981 involved the widespread substitution of

The scandal unraveled on 27 July 1981 after a food inspector in San Diego, California, became suspicious of three blocks of frozen Australian boneless beef that were "darker and stringier" than beef should be. Tests revealed that they were horse meat, not beef, and further testing elsewhere in the United States revealed that some Australian "beef" contained kangaroo meat.^[5] Some of the meat had found its way into burgers at the Jack in the Box chain, leading to jokes about "Skippy burgers".^[1]

In response, the

Several meat distributors in Australia were found to have purchased low-grade cuts of meat intended for pet food, which they then repackaged and exported for human consumption. Non-halal meat was also substituted for halal meat. Justice Woodward noted that the scale of the operation could not be properly assessed due to attempts to cover it up, but said that the types of meat used as substitutes would be easily obtained in the eastern states of Australia.^[2]

It was confirmed that meat substitution had been occurring for at least five years.^[4] Sources within Victoria Police claimed that meat processors were being warned when to expect quality inspections by American officials.^[3]

A 1981 article in The Washington Post noted that the condition of kangaroos processed for meat did not meet United States standards. In particular, it stated that kangaroos were typically hunted in the field, and then transported hundreds of miles by truck to be processed.^[3] The Royal Commission's report also noted unhygienic conditions at slaughterhouses, including poor cleanliness and the presence of maggots at a slaughterhouse in Katherine, Northern Territory.^[2]

Consequences

Ten companies referenced in the appendix had their food export licenses revoked, effectively shutting nine of them down. Penalties for breaching export license conditions were also increased from $2,000 to $100,000.^[9] However, the maximum fine at the time for the perpetrators themselves was only $100.^[9] Richard V. Hammon, a principal at Profreeze, was convicted of "forging documents issued by or deliverable to Commonwealth authorities" and sentenced to four years in prison.^[9]

The scandal led to widespread criticism in Australia of the government and federal police.^[4] Critics of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser claimed that his administration had failed to respond to the scandal until it reached international proportions.^[3] Australian Labor Party called for the resignation of Peter Nixon, the Minister of Primary Industry at the time of the scandal.^[3] Detractors of Nixon nicknamed the scandal "Slaughtergate", a reference to the Watergate scandal involving US President Richard Nixon.^[10][3]

At the time, there were concerns that the scandal would affect the beef exporting industry, as the United States was the largest importer of Australian beef.^[11][12] It also affected Australian exports to Singapore and countries in the Middle East.^[4] This led to a series of reforms in Australian industry regulations. The 1982 Export Control Act was introduced to regulate the export of meat in the aftermath of the scandal.^[13] It introduced new legal requirements for meat processing operations and required exporters to meet the food standards of countries importing their meat, in addition to Australian standards.^[6] The Australian Bureau of Animal Health was replaced by the Export Inspection Service (EIS) in 1982, eventually becoming part of the current Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.^[9]

References