Lack of small slaughterhouses stifling meat trade innovation

A call for immediate government attention to be focused on the meat supply chain to stop innovation being stifled was made yesterday – after it emerged that one of the few remaining small-scale slaughterhouses in Scotland closed its doors yesterday after 40 years of business.

The DS Slaughterhouse in Dunblane took its final kill intake on Tuesday, which managing director John Stevenson said would be handled and processed as normal.

With a staff of 12, Mr Stevensonsaidhewas“exploring all the options” for the business, and expressed hope the closure might only be for the short term.

However, the move marks the most recent in a round of closures of smaller abattoirs which serve local butchers, high quality restaurants and caterers – and farmers supplying this trade, as well as those in the business of adding value to their own produce by selling direct to the public.

John Fyall, chairman of National Sheep Association’s Scottish region, said that if the Scottish Government wanted the country to be viewed as a good food nation, action had to be taken to look after the whole supply base and ensure smaller businesses still had the ability to add value to their produce.

He said that closures of slaughter facilities in Orkney, the west coast and now Dunblane meant that the provision of such services was severely limited, with few if any of the big abattoirs willing to handle small-scale kill lines. He added that the lack of smaller abattoirs also had implications for locally sourced supplies, food miles and animal welfare – all issues which helped underwrite the county’s growing reputation for good food.

Penny Middleton, NFU Scotland’s animal health and welfare policy manager, said the sector was running desperately short of options for producers looking to self-market their own product without incurring significant additional costs.

She said: “Smaller contract kill abattoirs provide a vital service … We need to reconsider the value these facilities provide to the local community and look at ways we can support them going forwards.”