‘Scottish’ brand needs built up, says farming director

The refurbished Brechin facility boasts a modern lairage, kill line, rapid carcase chill system and lorry wash and was supported with a grant of £2.7 million from the Scottish Government.

Employment has more than doubled to 58 staff, making it one of the largest employers in Angus.

The plant slaughters and processes the pigs into primal cuts, with the pork then delivered to Tulip Ltd’s network of sites to be further processed into a wide variety of food products, before being supplied to a range of retail and wholesale customers across the UK.

Tulip Ltd’s farming director Andrew Saunders said he did not envisage any further butchering taking place at Brechin “in the near future”, but emphasised that while the pigmeat went south to be butchered, the end product was still classed as Scottish – so long as it was born, bred and finished here.

He said more throughput of pigs would make it easier for the company to consider an investment in further butchering at Brechin. However he pointed out that saying a product was Scottish was not enough to make it stand out.

He said: “We need other unique selling points around quality control, standardisation and local raw material sourcing. We need to build on ‘Scottish’ because ‘Scottish’ in itself, with all due respect, isn’t enough.”

Mr Saunders said the Brechin abattoir was a great example of what could be achieved through a collaboration between farmer producers and processors combining their pig farming and food manufacturing with the skills and experience of the Scottish pig farming community.

“We are incredibly proud to be able to source quality Scottish pork and will continue to work with QPL to assist it in helping to shape the future of the Scottish pig industry.”