A pork processor in Huesca, Aragón, with a catalogue written as coded specifications

At a glance

The location, the catalogue and the terms a meat quotation is written in.

Location

San Esteban de Litera, Huesca, Aragón, Spain

Activity

Cutting and processing of pork, catalogued as coded specifications for professional buyers

Catalogue

80 coded specifications across 6 product families

Condition

61 specifications listed chilled, 80 listed frozen

Customs classification

Combined Nomenclature headings 0203, 0206, 0209, 0504; the subheading that applies depends on the cut and its presentation

Catalogue languages

Spanish and English, including the cut, bone, rind and condition attributes of each code

Intended readers

The catalogue is organised for retail, foodservice, industrial processing, importers and distributors

What a quotation needs

Pricing a meat enquiry takes four points: the code, the quantity, the condition and the destination

What the catalogue covers

6 product families, each holding numbered specifications with their own cut, bone, rind and condition attributes. Each code has its own product page in Spanish and English.

• Pork Leg

  Round and Serrano presentations with bone and rind, through to the boneless, rindless 3D–6D range of defatted legs.

• Pork Shoulder

  Fore-end, tennis-cut and bone-in rindless presentations, the defatted 3D–8D range and the collar cuts taken from the shoulder.

• Pork Belly

  Bone-in, sheet-ribbed, rind-on and rindless bellies, together with spare rib and riblet formats taken from the same primal.

• Chops & Loins

  Loin, back bacon and tenderloin in bone-in, rindless, chain-on and chain-off presentations, each coded as a separate specification.

• Pork Trimming

  Graded by lean-to-fat ratio from 90/10 to 30/70, plus collar and tenderloin trimmings for formulated and cured production.

• Others

  Bones, fats, rinds, feet, hocks, heads and offal, for rendering, broth and stock, and further processing.

Who the catalogue is written for

Each kind of buyer reads the catalogue differently, so each has its own page setting out the points that programme has to fix in the specification.

• Retail

  Weight bands, trim standard, presentation and shelf format are the points a retail programme has to fix before it can be priced on a recurring basis.

• Foodservice

  Portion weight, uniformity and preparation are what a kitchen specification has to pin down, so that one code always describes the same cut.

• Industrial processing

  Raw material described by lean-to-fat ratio and preparation: the terms in which formulated, cooked and cured production buys its pork.

• Importers & distributors

  Mixed-code consignments, destination documentation and container configuration are the variables an importer or distributor has to settle before a quotation can be built.

What an enquiry has to cover

The same points arise whether the enquiry is a single code or a mixed container, and each one has to be settled in writing before a price means anything.

1. 01EnquirySend the product codes or a description of the cut, the quantity, the chilled or frozen condition and the destination country.
2. 02SpecificationEach code records its own cut, bone, rind and condition attributes; agreeing which code applies gives both sides one written reference.
3. 03Packing and markingCarton and pallet configuration, labelling and the language of the label change the shape of an offer, so they belong in the enquiry rather than after it.
4. 04Commercial termsThe Incoterms 2020 rule and its named place allocate carriage, the delivery point, risk transfer and customs formalities. They say nothing about payment, which is agreed separately, so both belong in the enquiry.
5. 05Destination documentationWhich certificates and documents a consignment needs is set by the importing country, not by the seller, and is worth establishing before contracting rather than after loading.

What buying from an EU establishment means

These obligations apply to any establishment placing products of animal origin on the market from Spain. Each of them generates records a buyer can ask a prospective supplier for.

• Approval and public listing

  Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) 853/2004 requires an establishment handling the products of animal origin covered by its Annex III to be approved by the competent authority, and Annex II Section I requires the approval number to appear in the identification mark applied to the packaging. Article 148 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires the competent authority to keep a public list of approved establishments, against which a number given by any prospective supplier can be checked.

• Hygiene and HACCP

  Regulation (EC) 852/2004 requires permanent procedures based on HACCP principles. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1375 lays down specific rules on official controls for Trichinella in meat, including the sampling regime applicable to pig meat.

• Traceability and certificates

  Article 18 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 requires one-step-back, one-step-forward traceability. Certificates for third countries follow the model agreed with the destination and are applied for in Spain through CEXGAN; TRACES NT documents intra-EU movements and import controls.