Processors are claiming a victory over the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the High Court, which they claim could see the agency refund or reduce charges to industry to the tune of £1m.



The FSA was challenged in the courts by 12 members of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) over issues surrounding the recovery of EU minima charges.

Activity for the next National Butchers’ Week is officially under way, with a dedicated website now online at www.nationalbutchersweek.co.uk.

National Butchers’ Week 2012 will run from 25-31 March 2012. It will once again run under the banner of ‘Ask the Expert’, highlighting the true expertise of the trained artisan butcher – many of whom have been at the heart of their communities for decades.

Hampshire butchers carried the day against their Berkshire and Oxfordshire competitors in the recent Three Counties Sausage and Pie Competition.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has announced that Mike Whittemore has been appointed to the new position of trade team marketing manager for Eblex.

Two butchers from Staffordshire and Wolverhampton won the West Midlands ‘tastiest sausage’ competition, organised by Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF).

Pig and poultry producers, processors and butchers are being given the chance to claim a £1,000 prize if they can come up with the latest innovation to drive the sector forward.

The ABN Innovation Award 2012, which is open to anyone with an idea for adding greater value to the industries, aims to highlight the very best ideas to help tackle some of the challenges currently being faced by the pig and poultry food production chain.

Ireland is bringing out a certification system for craft butchers, which has been likened to a ‘Michelin-star’ system for independent high street butchers. 

A new survey has found that 60% of consumers aged 18-24 would like more information when buying meat.

Scotch Beef is the biggest-selling Scottish food and drink brand in Great Britain, research has revealed. British sales of Scotch Beef have reached over £247m, surpassing all other food and drink brands from Scotland, Kantar Worldpanel said at a Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) marketing conference.

Award-winning Scottish butcher Paul Boyle has had to interrupt business due to a criminal fire that destroyed his Bathgate shop. Three young people have been arrested following the incident, which happened at Boghall Butchers on 15 January around 3am.

Coventry-based catering butcher Aubrey Allen has won Restaurant magazine’s Chef Choice Awards for the third year running.

Pig bosses have launched a survey looking for views on the state of the industry across the board.

Talented butchers and budding charcutiers are being urged to get involved in a new competition which is being dubbed as the food and drink world’s answer to The Turner Prize.

A West Yorkshire farm shop has bought both the champion and the reserve champion at Skipton Auction Mart’s opening New Year show and sale.

The meat industry has hit back against calls from a former government advisor for a dramatic reduction in meat consumption to fight obesity and climate change.


Professor Tim Lang, who has advised the World Health Organisation and the Department for Environment on food policy, told The Telegraph that meat consumption was “out of control” and said people should return to the past tradition of saving meat for special occasions.

A butcher from Dumfries and Galloway has won the World Scotch Pie championship, taking the title back from the bakers.

J G Renicks beat nearly 90 other entries to take the top prize including last year’s winner, baker Maurice Irvine of Beith, and Greenhalgh’s, which has 60 outlets in the north-west of England.

An investigation has been launched after an abattoir butcher was injured when an animal bolt gun went off accidentally in his hands.

The Meat Advisory Panel (MAP) has developed a series of factsheets outlining the nutritional value and health benefits of meat for consumers, in a bid to dispel the myths and misinformation surrounding red meat.

The results of the 13th World Scotch Pie Championships will be announced today at the Conference Centre at Carnegie College, Dunfermline.

One of the West Country’s best-known butcher’s has been ordered to pay a total of £15,000 in fines and costs after claiming its beef and lamb was 'local' when in fact it had come from as far away as Shropshire.

Gerald David and Family Ltd, which owns a number of shops in Devon and Somerset, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs at Bridgwater Magistrates Court in Somerset on 19 December, having entered guilty pleas to six charges that its labelling of beef and lamb was misleading consumers.

Bpex have announced a battle of the bacon to kick of activities for next year’s Bacon Connoisseur’s Week.

Under the theme of ‘Red, White & Bacon’, the week will run from 19-25 March 2012 and celebrate the British love of bacon. Ahead of the event, Bpex are inviting high street butchers, farm shops, manufacturers, retailers and catering suppliers to enter a competition to find the best traditional and innovative bacon cures.

A Scotch Beef campaign which helped increase sales of beef in London by 30% has been shortlisted for a major award by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Three butchers who trade within a stone’s throw of each other in the same Lincolnshire town bought the best beef cattle at this month’s Smithfield Festival, the latest incarnation of the famous Royal Smithfield Show.

Bpex foodservice sector manager Tony Goodger has been listed alongside celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, as one of the most influential people in public sector catering.

British Sausage Week (BSW) generated £15.5m worth of total media coverage, up from the annual five year average of £11.4m, with increased sales of sausages of around £2m, according to organisers Bpex.

The 14th annual nationwide PR campaign ran from 31 October to 6 November and was fronted by Slade front man Noddy Holder. As well as the primary consumer campaign to drive positive media coverage and reaffirm sausages as a favourite, convenient and intrinsically British food, it was intended to provide a platform to promote the category more widely.  

An Oxfordshire farmer has created a real buzz on the internet with a Christmas video he made for his customers. The video, which shows Colin Dawes and his staff singing, dancing and performing everyday tasks around the farm and butcher’s shop, has had over 50,000 hits on twitpic and Youtube.

Butchers should dust off their rolling pins and roll out their pastry for the 2012 British Pie Awards, which are now officially open to entries.

Wholesaler John Penny and Sons has produced a video explaining the benefits of good-quality meat from the local butcher.

Retail expert Mary Portas has issued a stark warning to the high street, saying that shops need to provide something new if they want to compete in the changing face of British retail.

Portas was commissioned by the government to conduct an independent review on the future of UK town centres and high street. Publishing her review today (13 December), she has come up with 28 points which she believes will create sustainable high streets of the future.  

J & N Food Equipment has launched an affordable automatic sausage-linker, which it claims is capable of producing around linked sausages per minute.

Parkers Food Machinery has celebrated its 10th anniversary by announcing it is now the main UK agent for Deko slicers.

Food Equipment Marketing (FEM) is now supplying Alto-Shaam Carving Stations, which are ideal for butchers looking to branch out into ready-to-order roast meat sandwiches.

With the date for National Butchers’ Week in the diary and preparations under way across the country, MTJ spoke to some of last year’s participants about why to get involved and how to make the most out of the week.

Thomas’s Butchers in Corsham has been very successful since opening on 17 November in the presence of former MP Neil Hamilton and TV celebrity wife Christine.

A Warwick butcher has teamed up with a local estate agent to launch a novel promotional campaign to attract new customers to the shop in the run-up to Christmas.

Some butchers have chosen to discontinue ready-to-eat food, as enforcement of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) E.coli guidelines issued in February is getting tougher. This is affecting their viability and could lead to shop closures in the long-term, the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT) has warned.

The Scottish Federation of Meat Traders Association (SFMTA) has urged its members to keep up with the price rise in livestock, and maintain a competitive edge through promoting their status as quality craft butchers.

Butchers are inviting shoppers to attend free 10-minute sessions to reduce the stress caused by Christmas dinner. A Q Guild survey has revealed that three-quarters of British people suffer stress when buying and preparing Christmas meat, with one in 10 describing the experience as more stressful than a first day in a new job.

Eblex has developed a new online tool to help butchers maximise the effectiveness of their cabinet displays.
Available on the retail section of the website www.eblextrade.co.uk, the free-to-use tool contains advice and information on merchandising techniques and consumer shopper behaviour.

Meat processors, along with other businesses, have been urged to plan ahead in preparation for a potential summer drought. An Environment Agency report has revealed that water shortage was very likely after one of the driest springs on record.

A Scottish butcher and processor has won a prestigious award in recognition of his business achievements.

A young butcher and farmer’s son has capped off a memorable year by retaining the title of Welsh Young Butcher of the Year for the third year on the trot.

Farmers sold their livestock for record prices at the Skipton Auction Mart’s Christmas primestock show. Supreme championship was awarded to a British Blue-cross heifer, a Beltex-cross lamb trio, and a Pietrain-cross-Large White pig trio.

A Chester butcher has won £1,000 in an Eblex lamb display competition.

Vaughan’s Family Butchers’ in Penyffordd in Chester won the award for creating an eye-catching display in its counter using new, alternative cuts of lamb.

Butchers are being offered a new range of premium beef products with the launch of a new brand from Scotch Premier Meat.

Butchers tell Meat Trades Journal what they think about National Butchers' Week and how to get the most out of it.

Exhibitors at last weekend’s English Winter Fair livestock showcase at Stafford saw a signicant increase in returns, according to auctioneers Bagshaws. The auctioneers put the increase down to a strong trade for beef, lamb and pork.

Eblex is offering 300 marketing kits to help farm shops promote their beef and lamb over the Christmas period.

Leeds butchers were celebrating after reigning supreme at the 2011 Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage & Products Competition this weekend.

Former Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson will be lending his support to a game meat promotion this December.

Organised by the Meat Trades Journal, the Butcher's Shop of the year awards celebrate the hard work and achievements of the country's best butchers. The winner of the 2011 UK title is John Davidson, of Davidsons Specialist Butchers in Scotland.

A Scottish butcher has taken the title of best in the UK after beating off competition from across the country in the annual Butcher’s Shop of the Year Awards.

The government has said that it may consider extending the shooting season into February. The statement came in response to questions posed in Parliament by Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon.

Medical experts have dismissed claims that new research proves that eating overcooked meat is twice as likely to cause cancer than previously thought.

A new range of pies has been launched by two self-proclaimed ‘grumpy old men’ from Cornwall in collaboration with prize-winning Launceston butcher, Philip Warren’s.

More than 120 members of the Q Guild from across the UK gathered in London yesterday to celebrate one of the most prestigious production evaluations in the butchers’ calendar, the Smithfield Awards.

Eblex has released cutting demonstrations videos showing master butcher Dick van Leeuwen using seam butchery techniques to add value to beef cuts.

A sausage made with Iron Brew and sweet chili could make its way to Scottish butchers’ permanent stock after its success at the British Sausage Week.

In order to help processors and butchers maximise carcase value, Eblex has launched a range of alternative beef and lamb cuts suitable for sous-vide cooking.

Former Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) chairman Rees Roberts has become the latest recipient of the Royal Smithfield Club’s Bicentenary Trophy for service to the livestock and meat trades. The Trophy, an Armada dish set with 25 golden guineas, was presented to him by the Club’s president John Coultrip at Butcher’s Hall.

White Rose butchers have until Saturday November 12 to submit their entries to the 2011 Great Yorkshire Pie, Sausage & Products competition. The 23rd annual ‘battle of the butchers,’ organised by the Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils, will take place on Sunday, November 20, at Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford.

A Yorkshire Farm Shop has celebrated British Sausage Week by unveiling a new range of pork sausages containing some unusual local ingredients.

Butchers, farmers and chefs joined Eblex and Michelin-starred chef Nigel Haworth at Barnard Castle for a Taste of England ‘farm to fork’ event, highlighting the potential of lesser-known cuts of meat for the foodservice sector.

The British Sausage Week launched on Monday 31 October. It is an opportunity for butchers and retailers to showcase their products, engage differently with customers and communicate with the media.

Trevor Harvey has been forced to close down his shop in Warsash, Hampshire, after struggling to keep afloat for over two years.

The Scottish Federation of Meat Traders Association (SFMTA) has run a fund-raising campaign for charity Breast Cancer Care. For a week, 101 butchers agreed to wear pink aprons, wigs and accessories to raise awareness on the disease.

A recent study has revealed that a butcher’s shop in Bridport, Dorset is the oldest continuously trading family business in the whole of the UK. 

Northern Ireland Invest has launched two new export initiatives by teaming up with Eblex and QMS to increase sales in key European markets, as part of its Boosting Business campaign.

Dickson’s family pork butchers is opening two new shops in the Sunderland area by the end of the year, and plans to expand further in the future. Chief operating officer Kevin Lee said: “The company has ambitious plans. We’re very keen to expand both on the retail side and on the wholesale side.”

Poultry and pork farmers Packington Free Range has won its third accolade this year, winning the Special Award for Commitment to Continued Improvement at the 2011 Good Food Awards, organised by Taste of Staffordshire.

The Scottish government is examining a proposal to implement selective waste-sorting for all businesses, raising concerns of higher recycling costs for butchers.

The proposed Zero Waste Regulations would call for paper, glass, metals and plastics to be collected separately, and would make food waste collection compulsory for businesses involved in food production, retail or preparation.

Butchers and bakers are invited to compete for the best Scotch pie in the world on 15 November in Dunfermline.

The organisation claims its 10 new cuts, developed from the loin, leg, forequarter and breast using seam butchery techniques, could improve gross margins by 20%.

Three people have been arrested and released on bail in connection with the largest incident of sheep rustling in the last 25 years.

Butchers’ JC Rook & Sons has won the prestigious Bpex Foodservice Sausage of the Year Award, beating nearly 300 entries to win the trophy, which was presented at Butchers’ Hall on Friday. 

Protein sources such as meat and fish could be the key to curbing appetites and reducing obesity, according to new international research.

Independent online meat and grocery-box company Riverford Organic has won the independent food retailer category at the RSPCA Good Business Awards.

The 2011 edition of the Butchers' Fair attracted hundreds of visitors to the Bolton Arena on 2 October.  A great networking opportunity, the show also had pie and sausage competitions that crowned the best butchers in the country.

A Yorkshire breeder and catering butcher has completed an extensive rebrand and launched a new signature range of high-end meat products.

Rothbury Family Butchers has scored 98% or over for each of the six creations presented at the Foodservice Pork Sausage of the Year competition. The shop’s pork, pear, and black pudding sausage was judged ‘best of the best’ and will compete in the finals on 21 October 2011 in London.

Red meat’s health attributes will be at the forefront of the Nursing in Practice conference in Wales this month.

A butcher has teamed up with local members of his supply chain in a bid to deliver a new range of conservation-friendly beef to menus.

The newly created Chesham sausage has been a success, according to its creator, butcher Gerry Martin.
“We have been selling it to restaurants and pubs and it’s been very successful,” he said.

Butchers flocked in their hundreds to the northern premier of Meat Trades Journal’s Butchers’ Fair this month, an event that was voted “superb” by exhibitors and visitors alike.

MTJ held its first-ever National Pie Competition at the Butchers’ Fair in Bolton last weekend.

A Wakefield butcher has beaten the UK’s best sausage-makers to take the top title at MTJ’s Champion of Champions competition.

A 23-year-old north Yorkshire butcher has been named Apprentice of the Month by UK meat industry training provider M.E.A.T. (Ipswich).

Scotland rugby ace Chris Paterson is praising the nutritional qualities of red meat in a new healthy eating campaign.

A butcher has been stabbed to death at his shop in north London. Irfam Ahmad, 24, was attacked at the Halal Food Direct store in Wood Green last Thursday in the middle of the afternoon. He was treated by the paramedics, but died at the scene.

The final countdown has begun to MTJ’s Butchers' Fair Autumn, which will take place at Bolton Area this Sunday (2 October).

Following on from the hugely successful Butchers’ Fair Spring, which took place at Newbury in April, the Autumn event will combine exhibition stands with live craft activity - giving visitors the chance to meet a range of companies, enjoy stage presentations and benefit from business boosting ideas and initiatives.

West Country catering butcher Turtons of Devon has been awarded a major industry accreditation in recognition of its high food safety and hygiene standards.

Yorkshire-based butchers will have the opportunity to compete for regional recognition for their pies, black puddings and burgers, at the great Yorkshire pork pie, sausage and products competition, which will be held on 20 November in Bradford.

A new website has been launched to help small independent butchers generate extra business and attract online customers.

Simon Howie Foods has appointed former AB World Foods’ Australasia general manager Andrew Stall as its new managing director.

Former managing director Simon Howie will remain in the company as chairman, with Staal taking on the daily operational management of the business in a drive to grow the firm’s £9m turnover.

The Humane Slaughter Award 2012 is now up for grabs, with applications and nominations now being received from around the world.

Fairfax Meadow has announced a new role for the managing director who steered it through turbulent times to the position of the UK’s leading catering butcher.

Gerry Wensley, who led the Derby firm to increase sales from £77m in 2001 to c£150m in 2011, will become chief executive from 1 January 2012.

Regional specialities such as Welsh Beef & Lamb, Traditional Cumberland Sausages and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies are being forgotten by the British public, according to a new survey by Hybu Cig Cymru - Meat Promotion Wales (HCC).

Meat industry representatives have refuted claims that meat production is unsustainable and facing imminent decline.

Over the past few weeks, The Guardian, The Independent and the Daily Mail have all run stories suggesting that we are facing a reduction in meat sales, citing a myriad of reasons including price inflation, climate change, health concerns and high-profile anti-meat campaigns.

A total of £60,000 was raised for Farms for City Children, the nominated charity of the Princess Royal during her year as Master of the Worshipful Company of Butchers.

Northern Ireland deli and farm shop The Meat Merchant is set to open an outlet in Newcastle-upon-Tyne next month, as part of an expansion that will see three delis open in England.

Eblex is offering butchers who are members of its Quality Standard scheme the chance to win £1,000 for promoting lamb cuts this Autumn.

QMS has signed up three rugby legends to support a new campaign to encourage consumers to support Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork labels, to coincide with the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Welsh lamb bosses are hoping for a boost with the launch of a major £800,000 marketing campaign to extol the virtues of their meat.

The great-granddaughters of two rival Lincolnshire butchers have launched a new company, making hand-raised, artisan pork pies.

Legendary rock star Noddy Holder is to take up the British banger challenge by becoming the face of Bpex’s 14th annual British Sausage Week.

Two practical and interactive courses have been launched to help small businesses get to grips with the complexities of food safety during production.

A butcher from Northern Ireland has taken the Supreme Champion title for its traditional handmade corned beef at the Great Taste Awards 2011, held in London last night.

The first round of judging is almost complete, and the first finalists in this year’s Butcher’s Shop of the Year can be revealed.

A campaign to get the Corned Beef Pasty recognised as the Welsh national dish will hand in a petition at the nation’s parliament this week

Butchery businesses are bucking the trend of high street closures with a series of new shops opening across the UK.

Catering butcher’s Scotts of Carshalton cooked a triumphant celebratory lunch for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently, as part of the Liberal Democrats’ celebrations of 25 years of running Sutton Council.

Ceredigion butcher Rob Rattray has come up with a special blue and orange ‘lifeboat’ sausage to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Aberystwyth lifeboat station and raise money to support the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the area.

Virtually everyone loves bacon — even vegetarians will acknowledge it as a guilty secret — so it is no surprise the total market is worth more than £1.27bn. However, butchers account for only a tiny fraction of those sales, with a market share of around 3.5% and value of £32.5m a year.

Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford, has earned a top national title after being chosen as 'Non-Multiple Retailer of the Year' in the 2010 Food and Farming Industry Awards.

Councils could kill off high street trade if they increase town centre parking charges, a small business support organisation has warned.

Workers at J Brindon Addy Butchers in Holmfirth, supported by local customer Richard Slack, left their top lips well and truly alone for a whole month, as they took part in a moustache-growing charity event. 'Movember' is held each year to raises funds and awareness for men's health issues.

A young apprentice is celebrating doing the double after taking the title of Welsh Butcher of the Year for the second year running.

Latest figures released by international food and grocery analysts IGD, reveal that the UK will spend £182.7bn in grocery retail outlets by 2015 – an average annual growth of 3.9%.

A national food hygiene rating scheme, which will inform consumers where to shop for food by giving information about hygiene standards, has been launched by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

A Skipton butcher reigned victorious in a ‘War of the Roses’ battle to find the best pork pie in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

It is with sorrow we report the death of Michael Newitt, 68, on 7 October, while on holiday in Antigua.

A new book, Shoulder of Mutton Field, written by Desmond Whyman, looks at the place that the meat trade has had in social history.

Butchers gathered at the Great Yorkshire Showground for the north-eastern leg of the Bpex roadshow on 17 November, as judges put 277 products through their paces.

A fortnight-long event, organised by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), to encourage people to enjoy eating game meat has been a huge success, organisers have said.

In response to high levels of customer demand, Staffordshire-based Packington Poultry has launched an online ordering facility for its Christmas Cockerel.

Gwent coroner David Bowen has brought in a neutral narrative verdict on the death of Mason Jones, the boy killed by a deadly E.coli bug, caused by a butcher, at an inquest in Newport, south Wales.

When it comes to meat, butchers know it all, and consumers will be urged to get back down to the high street and 'Ask the Expert' when it comes to the best cut for tea during next year's National Butchers' Week, from 13-20 March.

On January 23-25, one of Britain’s most respected food trade events, the Scottish Speciality Food Show, will bring together hundreds of fine food buyers and artisan producers from the UK and beyond.

The value of grocery shopping conducted over the internet is predicted to nearly double to £9.5bn in five years compared to its current level of £4.8bn, according to new research published by IGD – the international food and grocery expert.

A 17-year-old apprentice is aiming to prove he’s a cut above the rest for the second year as he defends his Welsh Young Butcher of the Year title today (Tuesday) at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Llanelwedd.

Butchers and bakers hoping to scoop a top pie title will be forced to put their plans on hold after organisers were forced to postpone due to the heavy snow.

Meat wholesaler John Penny & Sons has launched its new consumer-friendly branding and website.

Yorskshire-based Lishman’s Butchers has joined forces  with Ilkley Brewery in creating of a Yorkshire cured ham for Christmas.

Expansion plans at Dicksons are on a roll with the opening of a new-look shop in Gateshead.

Hampshire butcher Paul Turner was handed the 2010 British Sausage Award at the David Black awards lunch in London last month.

Butcher Mark Duckworth aims to become the first non-Scot to win the coveted World Scotch Pie Championship. The 39-year-old Cumbria-based butcher has entered the event, with judging set for in 16 November in Dunfermline.

A Norfolk butcher has expressed his relief that roadworks blocking customers from getting to his shop have been completed. Andrew Edmonds, who runs Bradwell Butchery near Great Yarmouth, said the pavement replacement works, which took nearly six weeks, had cost his business £10,000 in lost turnover.

Experienced master butcher Steve Turton joined restaurateur and MasterChef presenter John Torode to celebrate the supply of West Country meat from Turtons Of Devon to The LUXE (Spitalfields) as the restaurant celebrated its first anniversary last month.

Bentley's Butchers, of Robin Lane, Pudsey, landed a supreme championship double when taking top honours in both the pork pie and sausage classes at the 2010 Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage & Products Competition in Bradford on 16 October.

Independent butchers are being encouraged to offer butchery classes in the evenings and weekends by a new company, which will promote the classes and act as an agent.

Young people are hesitant to take jobs in retailing and would rather work with computers, according to a leading Perthshire butcher.

With judging set for the the Scotch Pie Championship in Dunfermline on 16 November, 20 butchers have entered the fray.

180-year old butcher’s shop Richard Woodall of Waberthwaite, based in Cumbria, is to shut.

Do not miss out on your chance to join in a celebration of some of best businesses in the butchery arena. Bookings are still available for the UK’s most prestigious butchery competition, MTJ’s Butcher’s Shop of the Year awards.

Weddel Swift Distribution has teamed up with Dawn Meats with a new promotion to encourage retailers to place orders of Quality Standard Mark Weddel Swift Matured English Beef.

The first results are in from Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood as he gears up for British Sausage Week in November.

A leading Yorkshire food hall was celebrating after being named the Best Independent Retailer by influential foodie title the Observer Food Monthly.

A 17-year-old apprentice is aiming to prove he’s a cut above the rest for the second year as he bids to defend his Welsh Young Butcher of the Year title next month.

A new BBC 1 TV series is set to launch in November, following a series of shops, including butchers', from Victorian times to the 1970s.

London-based butcher Roger Kelsey has been revealed as the new top man at the National Federation of Meat & Food Traders (NFMFT).