Customers flock back to butchers (From Ledbury Reporter)

Customers flock back to butchers

7:00am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in Ledbury By Robert Hale

INDEPENDENT butchers have seen a surge in custom after news broke about horsemeat being found in supermarket burgers and ready meals.

Many have reported seeing a increase in trade over the weekend following the latest news that Findus beef lasagne contained 100 per cent horse.

Paul Lopeman, owner of Barnards Green Butchers, Barnards Green Road, said: “We’ve definitely seen an upsurge in the last few days.

“People have definitely lost confidence in supermarket meat and in manufactured products, and they are starting to make their own beefburgers and so on.”

He said family butchers such as his business have long-term relationships, cultivated over decades, with trusted suppliers.

Ledbury butcher Dave Waller said there was a 10-15 per cent increase in normal trade last weekend.

He said: “There has been a boost in trade, big time. Saturday was unbelievable, and Friday too, with lots of new faces.

“With us, people can see what they are buying and we can tell them where the meat is from, and it is also processed by us.”

Mr Waller said he thought that all the “deception” concerning the sale of horsemeat in meat products was “disgusting”.

He added: “People are now buying good old British beef and pork.”

Pauline Phipps, owner of R A Phipps, Hanley Swan, which was founded in 1932 by her grandfather, said: “People know we are buying locally, or even when we’re not, it’s Scottish or Welsh meat, and they trust us.

“I think people realise that at the end of the day, they get what they pay for. People go to small shops for better quality.”

Calls to ban meat imports have been rejected by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson but he said he would be taking legal action in Europe over the scandal.

The horsemeat was believed to have entered the elaborate supply chain throughout the Continent from two Romanian abbatoirs.

The Food Standards Agency has said there is no evidence to suggest the horsemeat detected in beef products posed a danger to humans, although there is concern about the drugs which could have been used on the animals.