The meat industry is defending the practice of gluing meat cuts together, saying it is intended purely for portion control.
Green consumer affairs spokeswoman Sue Kedgley today lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission, saying the use of the "glue" - an enzyme called transglutaminase (TG) - was deceptive and raised potential food safety concerns.
"Most consumers would not want to eat scraps of meat that have been glued together with meat glue but in the absence of any requirement for labelling, they may be eating it inadvertently," she said.
Ms Kedgley said she believed the practice breached the Fair Trading Act.
But Beef and Lamb New Zealand chief executive Rod Slater said Ms Kedgley's comments were inaccurate.
The use of TG in New Zealand was to top and tail two tenderloins to create a consistent size for portion control in restaurants and the practice was not used by supermarkets and independent butchers.
Mr Slater said TG was almost entirely depleted from meat in the cooking process and was used widely in the food industry.
Significant research into TG found were no health concerns associated with the product.
But Ms Kedgley said consumers should be advised on a label or by other means that the meat they were eating was composed of scraps glued together.
"I am told that meat glue is also used in meat balls, fish balls, ham and other products," she said.
The Commerce Commission said today it was looking into Ms Kedgley's complaint.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that TG was a permitted processing aid and could be used when manufacturing food as a result of a risk assessment carried out by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.