Locally sourced meat, one of the cornerstones of modern sustainable eating, may soon be out of reach for consumers across the UK as large numbers of small suppliers are forced to close down.
Seeking out local meat, vegetables and other food products is increasingly embraced as part of a healthier diet that reduces environmental impact, allows clear traceability and improves farm welfare.
Independent shops and restaurants often pride themselves on stocking such items, while farmers’ markets, farm shops, food stalls and similar amenities used by tourists and locals alike rely on them.
But a study has found that small abattoirs are struggling harder than ever to survive, leaving more of the country’s meat supply concentrated in the hands of a small number of mega-producers.
More than a third of small abattoirs have closed in the past decade, leaving only 63 in England, down from 96 in 2007. In 1970 there were about 1,900 abattoirs in the UK.
The reasons, according to the Sustainable Food Trust, are high costs and squeezed profit margins, despite healthy demand for the products. Transporting small numbers of farm animals to be slaughtered, and then back to the farm of origin for traceability purposes, is more expensive than sending them to a larger abattoir where they will be amalgamated with other carcases from around the country.
The regulations governing smaller abattoirs are also onerous, because they were designed with large facilities in mind. Many struggle with the paperwork, and in an uncertain regulatory and economic environment are finding it hard to carry on.
Bigger abattoirs are also often built or expanded with the aid of government grants or tax breaks, which smaller ones miss out on. This expansion can also create over-capacity, driving the smaller out of business.
In its report, entitled A Good Life And A Good Death: Re-localising Farm Animal Slaughter, the trust calls on the government to put support mechanisms in place to preserve and build on what remains of the local abattoir sector, to capture the growing market for traceable, local and high-welfare meat.
One of the measures suggested is allowing mobile abattoirs, which would remove the need for animals and carcases to be transported to and fro, and small static abattoirs sited on farms. Mobile units are already in use in other parts of the EU, showing they can be managed within a tight regulatory framework.
The authors also call for a taskforce to be set up to examine the problem, and a clear statement of support from ministers that would require civil servants to incorporate the survival of small abattoirs into policy measures.
Richard Young, policy director of the SFT and an organic farmer, said he had been forced to change abattoirs nine times in 30 years, meaning he now has to transport animals 40 miles for slaughter. He said: “Local abattoirs play a vital role in all rural communities where farm animals are kept. When they close, both animals and meat have to be transported much further [which] is bad for animal welfare and the environment, and threatens the ongoing renaissance of local food cultures.”
The report’s authors also noted that UK taxpayers have provided the grants and investment for farmers to diversify into opening farm shops and supplying farmers’ markets, but this has not been accompanied by the investment in local slaughter without which locally sourced meat is often impossible.
Last week, the government took the first legislative steps to put CCTV into all abattoirs, following a string of revelations of poor practice and hygiene breaches in some larger facilities. At the National Farmers’ Union conference the environment secretary, Michael Gove, also spoke strongly in favour of British farming post-Brexit, while the Labour party has also set out its rural and animal welfare strategy.
However, as the Guardian revealed last year, mega-farms in the US style are on the rise across Britain, including facilities housing thousands of animals reared almost entirely indoors. British farmers may come under increasing pressure to move away from smaller family farms to huge animal-rearing facilities, in a future after Brexit.
Tracy Worcester, of Farms Not Factories, urged the government to protect small and medium scale farms and slaughterhouses to help ensure UK food security.
Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said his sector was also seeing small facilities close and called for ministers to provide financial support in the form of tax allowances to help producers invest in new infrastructure .
Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, said the government should pay attention “before it is too late” for the diminishing network of local abattoirs.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
