Plea for action on tide of abattoir closures
Red tape burden proves too much for small firms
ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY Michael Gove is being urged to take decisive action to halt the demise of the nation’s smaller abattoirs which the meat industry warns are shutting at an “alarming” rate.
A third of small abattoirs, which are largely independent, family-run businesses that provide vital jobs in rural communities, have shut in the past decade, including six in the last 12 months, Mr Gove is told in a letter seen by The Yorkshire Post.
Smaller abattoirs still have a place, industry experts insist, saying they help the environment by cutting food miles and offering a supply of high-quality meat for local restaurants at a time when the public places extra value in where their food comes from.
Mass closures of smaller abattoirs are blamed on an overly prescriptive approach to EU regulation by the Government which the industry says brings a burden of extra costs, while an acute shortage of new workers to run family enterprises is also a key factor in their downfall.
The increasing concerns have been starkly set out in a letter to Mr Gove that has been co-ordinated by The Campaign for Local Abattoirs on behalf of 34 groups representing food, farming, consumer and nature conservation interests. Signatories included the RSPB, National Trust, the RSPCA, the WI and the National Sheep Association.
They argue that a network of smaller abattoirs enables thousands of family farmers to supply meat and other livestock products to a growing number of customers, either directly or via retail and catering outlets, and together they represent “a huge national asset”.
Patrick Holden, the chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, said: “The sale of locally-produced meat helps to keep many family farmers in business and has huge benefits for consumers and the environment.
“For the first time in my farm- ing lifetime, Defra is genuinely striving to develop a more sustainable food system with additional focus on animal welfare. But that could come unstuck if we lose more local abattoirs.
“Without local slaughtering there will be no traceable local meat, it’s as simple as that.”
John Mettrick, the chairman of National Craft Butchers (NCB) and owner of a small abattoir in Derbyshire, said: “We have hit a perfect storm of problems: increased costs, rock bottom prices for hides and skins, some goldplated regulations, and excessive paperwork, much of it involving unnecessary duplication.”
And Sara Jane Staines, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, added: “We need to be able to fly the flag for less but better-quality meat with a known provenance. We can’t do that without accessible abattoirs across the country.”
The signatories of the joint letter call on Mr Gove to set up a new group to advise on how best the regulatory and other problems that beset smaller abattoirs can be effectively resolved.