Closure of independent abattoir after 100 years will strike fear into farmers

Mettrick’s abattoir in Glossop on the South Yorkshire border closed on Wednesday with the butcher, who ironically champions the fight to save small abattoirs in his other roles, saying increasing regulations and red-tape and inexperienced vets have created conflict causing staff to become demoralised and leave.

It is an industry that is already suffering labour shortages and, in John Mettrick’s case, has seen his fully qualified slaughterman along with two fully qualified butchers leave the industry giving him no choice but to close the abattoir.

He has said: “The Food Standards Agency (FSA) acknowledges that the present one size fits all system does not work and through a five-year programme say they hope to be able to deliver a risk based proportional approach to regulation in the future.

"However, this will require legislative change to have any chance of a meaningful impact. The refusal from the UK Government to utilise even existing legislation to support small abattoirs means that in the meantime many, like my own, will have no choice but to close.”

This will spark concern for farmers who have managed to survive financially by marketing meat from their animals direct to consumers thanks to having access to a small abattoir.

Richard Young, Sustainable Food Trust’s policy director, said: “This is an extremely worrying development. If a state-of-the-art small abattoir like this is unable to continue in business, yet more closures will follow. Countless meetings with Ministers and civil servants, an All-Party Parliamentary report, chaired by Lord Tree and the dedicated work of the Abattoir Sector Group, have not just come to nothing, the situation has actually got worse.

“This isn’t about money, it's about the Government being willing to set its own, risk-based rules for small abattoirs. Ironically, now we have left the EU, Ministers are more frightened to vary from the bureaucratic letter of EU regulations than when we had a voice in Europe.

“All food, farming and rural organisations must work together to turn this situation round. It is in no one’s interest to let small abattoirs slip away like this. Even vegans should be working with us.

"I understand their concerns about animal slaughter, but I can’t believe any of them would want animals from smaller, higher welfare farms to travel further to abattoirs slaughtering hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of animals daily.”

The numbers of small abattoirs in the UK has declined dramatically in recent decades and continues to shrink by about 10 per cent each year, with some areas already very poorly served.

Previously, Mr Mettrick has opened the doors of his abattoir to the BBC for its Kill it, Cook it, Eat it programme, appeared on Countryfile, and spoken on national news about the vital role local abattoirs play in the rural economy.