SFT criticise welfare groups

Animal welfare groups are not acting in the best interests of animal welfare by putting pressure on the few remaining small abattoirs that have still to install CCTV, says the Sustainable Food Trust (SFT).

The trust’s policy director, Richard Young, warned that putting yet more pressure on the “last few small abattoirs” was actually helping to drive them out of business.

“These are familyrun businesses where animals are treated as individuals and do not have to endure long journeys,” he said, adding that the UK’s smallest abattoirs are currently facing an unprecedented crisis.

“Many of them are losing money and find it hard to see how this will change. This means that a significant proportion of those that have not yet installed CCTV need government assistance to prevent them being forced to close.”

According to the SFT there are only 56 small red meat abattoirs left in the UK, with a third having closed between 2007 and 2017 and a further seven closing this year.

The trust said: “We’d welcome it if animal rights and welfare organisations would meet with us and discuss these issues openly. If they really care about animal welfare they will come to understand that the smallest abattoirs desperately need public support at the moment, not further criticism just for cheap headlines.”

Some abattoirs have still to install CCTV.