First Person: The answer to Horsegate is to buy local
Iam very lucky to have four really good butchers near me. Even though I live on a farm, I have always supported them because I believe in buying local meat and I enjoy having a good chat at the same time. They can tell me which farm the meat comes from, handy hints about cooking and any special offers they might have.
I bought some beef on Saturday in Blaby and was pleased to discover that, in common with butchers up and down the country, business was brisk.
Some butchers are reporting a 40 per cent increase in sales of fresh burgers. Markets and farm shops are also boasting increased customers.
Since the discovery of horse meat in processed beef products from burgers to bolognese sauce, Horsegate has dominated our news.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013
Each day brings fresh revelations, with school dinners and hospital food now being affected. Yet, a month on, we still seem no nearer to finding out how it happened or, crucially, how long it has been happening.
Extensive DNA testing continues and we could still be looking at the tip of the iceberg. We keep being told this is not a serious health hazard (although we don't really know that yet) but we all need to trust the food we buy, even if that is a "value" beefburger.
So how did we get into this mess? Who is responsible? Is it the Food Standards Agency for not being rigorous enough in testing? Powerful supermarkets whose drive for cheap foods leads them to have a supply chain that stretches right across Europe?
Or maybe it's the meat processors who have got away with using cheaper ingredients and possibly being exploited by criminal gangs?
What about the Government and its reluctance to bring in tougher food regulation?
I would guess all of these play a part. Our food is part of a massive industrialised market place.
But we need to look closer to home, too. We, as consumers, also play our part.
We now spend a much smaller proportion of our income on food and have been seduced by the major retailers. Maybe we've been too complacent about the hidden costs of cheap food.
Leicestershire is a great meat-producing county, with farmers producing quality beef, pork and lamb.
Let's support them and resolve to buy local. Many stand at farmers' markets and have farm shops. Look for the red tractor and farm assurance labels.
We should rely less on processed ready meals. If we do, we might also discover just how easy it is to make your own beefburgers.
2 Comments
by graydjames
Sunday, February 24 2013, 4:41PM
“I continue to argue that this clamour to buy from your local butcher completetly and entirely misses the point about the so called horse meat scandal.
The use of horse meat (which by the way is not a cheaper alternative depsite that being implied in this letter as well as perpetually on the news) has been in processed and pre-packaged food.
There is an argument for not buying these products and instead buying freash meat and vegetables and making your own meals. This is an argument I support, although I do find myself irritated by the moral high ground that its exponants seek to gain.
But it is surely a completely different argument to say that one should buy these products from the local supplier. I do not degrudge those who wish to support their local butcher, green grocer etc, should they wish to do so; but the suggestion that buying fresh meat from the supermarket counter means that one is threatened with the possibility of eating horse is plainly ridiculous. The writer of this piece does not state that but that is the clear implication and others have made that absurd assertion with comments on these pages.
The writer is confusing two quite separate argunments. I do not have to visit my local butcher to eat good, hearty, freshly-prepared meals entirley free of horse. I am pleased I have a free choice to visit my local butcher or to visit a supermarket (and by the way the supermarket is my nearest shop) and I refuse to be told how I should exercise my purchasing power.”
by Graham_LE8
Saturday, February 23 2013, 9:21AM
“C'mon LM online staff- the headline tells us it's the 'first person' column, but where's the byline?”