Chapter 16: Preparations of meat, of fish, of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, or of insects

1. This chapter does not cover meat, meat offal, fish, crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, as well as insects, prepared or preserved by the processes specified in Chapter 2 or 3, Note 6 to Chapter 4 or in heading 0504.

2. Food preparations fall in this chapter provided that they contain more than 20 % by weight of sausage, meat, meat offal, blood, insects, fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, or any combination thereof. In cases where the preparation contains two or more of the products mentioned above, it is classified in the heading of Chapter 16 corresponding to the component or components which predominate by weight. These provisions do not apply to the stuffed products of heading 1902 or to the preparations of heading 2103 or 2104.

For preparations containing liver, the provisions of the second sentence shall not apply in determining the subheadings within heading 1601 or 1602.

1. For the purposes of subheading 160210, the expression ‘homogenised preparations’ means preparations of meat, meat offal, blood or insects, finely homogenised, put up for retail sale as food suitable for infants or young children or for dietetic purposes, in containers of a net weight content not exceeding 250 g. For the application of this definition, no account is to be taken of small quantities of any ingredients which may have been added to the preparation for seasoning, preservation or other purposes. These preparations may contain a small quantity of visible pieces of meat, meat offal or insects. This subheading takes precedence over all other subheadings of heading 1602.

2. The fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates specified in the subheadings of heading 1604 or 1605 under their common names only, are of the same species as those mentioned in Chapter 3 under the same name.

1. For the purposes of subheadings 16023111, 16023211, 16023921, 16025010 and 16029061, the term ‘uncooked’ is to apply to products which have not been subjected to any heat treatment or which have been subjected to a heat treatment insufficient to ensure the coagulation of meat proteins in the whole of the product and which, therefore, in the case of subheadings 16025010 and 16029061, show traces of a pinkish liquid on the cut surface when the product is cut along a line passing through its thickest part.

2. For the purposes of subheadings 16024110, 16024210 and 16024911 to 16024915, the expression ‘cuts thereof’ applies only to prepared or preserved meat which, due to the size and the characteristics of the coherent muscle tissue, is identifiable as having been obtained from hams, shoulders, loins, or collars of domestic swine, as the case may be.