Gloucestershire butchers back supermarket beef boycott call
BUTCHERS in Gloucestershire are backing a national call for consumers to boycott supermarket beef.
The National Beef Association (NBA) says supermarket habits are threatening to undermine the British beef industry.
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Best of British: Beef
The association says multiple retailers are doing little more than stacking up piles of mince on their shelves.
Alan Taylor, of Grosvenor Delicatessen and Butchery, in Grosvenor Terrace, Cheltenham, said: "I agree with the NBA 100 per cent. They speak a lot of sense.
"I've been here 21 years. Our butcher skills are used every second and every minute of the day. It's the flexibility we've got. We're very diverse in the ways of doing things."
Robin Jenkins, who runs his own family butchers shop in Bath Road, Cheltenham, said small businesses like his offer a service the supermarkets can't match.
He said: "We hang our beef. It's matured for at least 21 days and that makes a big difference. It makes it more tender and slightly tastier."
Mr Jenkins, who has had the shop since 1993, said he and his staff handed out advice on how to cook meat and also offered a service aimed at making meat last longer, without having to freeze it.
He said: "We do a free vac-pac service, which draws the air out and enables you to pack meat so it will keep for 14 days."
NBA officials say supermarkets could soon find themselves without any British beef to sell.
Their attack follows an earlier warning that producers are not seeing enough returns from the market.
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by Whitevanman, Workingnearyou
Thursday, September 02 2010, 12:13PM
“Bored, Gloucester, thanks for your support.
Yes, it was a comment on what I choose to do, not a lecture, nowhere have i told anyone else what they should do. We all make choices in life, and I refuse to buy day-glow orange meat, still dripping with very thin blood - yuk!!
Mary S, Chelts, I've been on this planet a few years now, and while I do actually KNOW that it IS cheaper, I was trying to be diplomatic and NOT lecture you. As Bored says, we also spend a little less, but I have never enjoyed eating meat as much as I have in the last few years, since we went free range. The greatest compliment when a chef friend of ours was salivating over an extra portion of lasagne my wife had prepared, and he NEVER compliments anyone else except himself!
There is a myth that buying good food is expensive. Sorry, it's nonense. You have to spend quite a while digging out local growers, but once the data is in place, you just keep calling. We buy free range eggs from a little farm at the side of the road, where the yolks are so bright, someone staying at the farm complained, as she had never seen them that colour before. They were collected that morning.
Supermarkets are great for lots of things, but not red meat.”
by EJ, Cheltenham
Thursday, September 02 2010, 12:12PM
“I'm not on a great wage by any stretch but I also always buy my meat from a butcher. Not only does it taste better, I also know exactly where it comes from and it does work out cheaper.”
by The Khazi of Kalabar, Cheltenham
Thursday, September 02 2010, 10:10AM
“So high street butchers recommend that people buy from their shops and not from supermarkets.
What a surprise.
In other news, the Federation of Christmas Turkeys recommend having a vegetarian Christmas dinner this year for a change.”
by Steve, Cheltenham
Wednesday, September 01 2010, 10:52PM
“Ah, I remember going to the butchers with my nan. Sawdust on the floor, carcasses hanging up alongside where customers were queuing (yes, people queued in those days). You couldn't ask for the wrong thing; scrag end of neck, belly pork, nice piece of brisket, hare, foie gras entier (just kidding)
Happy days :)”
by Bored, Gloucester
Wednesday, September 01 2010, 3:47PM
“Mary S I know for a fact it works out cheaper. We still occationally have to shop at supermarkets and it almost always works out more expensive and like I and others have said even if its a more expensive cut you need less of it because it tastes so good.
Not to mention the rubbish they pump into supermarket food. I had some asda chicken breasts a few years ago that I had to bin as they tasted so much of chemicals.
Its not lecturing its comenting on a story.”