Photo: Brett Jordan

Is oxtail a beef or kangaroo?

Kangaroo tails cannot be sold as oxtails in the U.S. Oxtails are beef, and federal law requires all food products to carry a label which should be truthful and not misleading. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .

reuters.com - Fact Check-U.S. shoppers purchasing oxtails are not unknowingly buying ...

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Epicures in the United States can purchase oxtails with the confidence that they are not buying kangaroo tails being sold and packaged as beef. In statements to Reuters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) set the record straight: any attempt to sell kangaroo tails as oxtails would be breaking government food regulations.

Posts on social media that can be seen here

and here all share versions of a message with similar pictures that advise people “DONT LET ME STOP YOU FROM EATING (KANGAROOS) TAILS, You been eating it for years and gulp it up … under the global name (OXTAILS).” They claim that food labeled “oxtail” can come from any animal, and that when shoppers thought they were purchasing bovine meat, they were in fact purchasing kangaroo. The posts say, “Because the word is just another name for a TAIL so the wording OXTAILS could mean it comes from any animals with a tail.” In reality, oxtail is the culinary term for cattle tails (here). Traditionally, these were the tails of oxen – castrated bulls that work in the fields - though these days they mostly come from cattle raised for beef (here). The etymology of “ox” is not a generic term for tail, but rather a term for male animals ( www.etymonline.com/word/ox , here ). Reuters reached out to the FDA regarding the claims and a spokesperson from the Office of Media Affairs from the FDA said kangaroo meat is “regulated by the FDA if it enters into interstate commerce. Similar to all foods regulated by the FDA, the manufacturers/processors of kangaroo must follow all applicable laws and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and its implementing regulation, Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food and proper labeling laws.” Additional food labeling standards can be seen on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, here .

The FDA requires that food labeling be truthful and not misleading.

Bailey McWilliams from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) explained further: “If a food item is packaged in a USDA-regulated establishment to be sold as beef oxtails, onsite USDA-FSIS inspectors would ensure that the food product inside the package is consistent with what is displayed on the label.” A video from the USDA that provides information regarding product labels is visible here . Visually the two meat products look different. Videos of the cutting of both the leaner kangaroo meat versus the bulkier oxtail can be seen in food preparation videos here and here . Shoppers would be able to verify that the oxtails they purchase are indeed bovine meat by looking at the packages’ ingredients. Examples of grocery stores clearly marking their oxtail products as being made of beef can be seen here , here . According to an exotic meat website, kangaroo meat is a rare find in the U.S. (here). Earlier this year, a bill was introduced to Congress proposing a ban on kangaroo skin and meat imports to the United States (here).

VERDICT

False. Kangaroo tails cannot be sold as oxtails in the U.S. Oxtails are beef, and federal law requires all food products to carry a label which should be truthful and not misleading. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .

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