Farmer beefs up advertising after scandals.
Byline: Sarah Scott? 0191 201 6273 ? [email protected]HORSE SENSE AFARMER has come up with an eye-catching way of enticing new customers into his farm shop as the horsemeat scandal rumbles on.
Ian Byatt, who owns and runs Moorhouse Farm Shop in Stannington, Northumberland, has seen a surge in new customers to his farm shop since it was revealed that a number of processed beef meals contained large quantities of horsemeat.
And to make light of the situation Ian, who runs the farm with his wife Victoria, has created his own signs, such as "Just pure home-reared beef (No horsing about!)" to go on display outside his popular farm shop.
"Although the scandal is serious, we tried to inject a little bit of humour, as well as scoring some points off the big guys," said 49-year-old Ian.
"Lots of customers have commented on them and they have definitely brought in some new passing trade," he said.
Ian, whose farm shop will celebrate its 10th anniversary in May, said he had noticed a marked increase in new customers since the horsemeat scandal became public knowledge.
"Our business increased on Saturday by almost 25%," said the father-of-one. Obviously, what we do as farm shops is about using your own products direct from your own farm, having control of the whole thing.
"We pick the animals ourselves, we take them to the slaughter house - we do not slaughter them ourselves as it is illegal, we are not allowed to, but then the animals get delivered back to us.
"We know the whole chain, we do everything ourselves, we break it down and make our own sausages and burgers and ready meals.
"The only aspect for contamination is if we were trying to pull a fast one, which is not what we do.
"We know we are doing the right thing," said Ian, who admitted he did not even realise the scale of movement to processed products from country to country.
Farm shop owners and reputable butchers have noted a change in shoppers normal routines as they seek out producers they feel they can trust.
"Virtually all our customers were talking about it, both at the farm shop and at the farmers' market," said Ian. "Now, consumers are looking to people they know they can trust and the traceability that we can provide. Our beef chain, from our farm, to abattoir and straight to the farm shop is just eight miles - it's a huge difference from meat changing hands numerous times across five different countries and thousands of miles."
FOOD FIRMS ACT THE food industry and authorities are working to restore consumer confidence in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said this week that the food retail industry was "absolutely determined" to restore confidence in its products, as Germany announced that it is planning tighter controls on meat products and stronger penalties for companies that violate food-labelling rules.
Tests on 2,501 beef products last week revealed 29 positive results, relating to Aldi's special frozen beef lasagne and special frozen spaghetti bolognese, Co-op frozen quarter pounder burgers, Findus beef lasagne, Rangeland's catering burger products, and Tesco value frozen burgers and value spaghetti bolognese. Pub and hotel group Whitbread pulled lasagne and burgers from their menus after revealing it had become the latest company to admit horse DNA had been found in its food.
horsemeat was also discovered in school dinners, with cottage pies testing positive for horse DNA sent to 47 Lancashire schools before being withdrawn. Nestle said its supplier caught up in a horsemeat recall in Italy, Spain and France is not used for the UK market. It was later confirmed that tests on all of its processed beef products sold in the UK and Ireland, showed no presence of horse DNA.
CAPTION(S):
Ian Byatt, who has made signs for his farm shop which poke fun at the current food scandals
Picture: Tim McGuinness www.journallive.co.uk/buyaphoto ref: 00838614
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| Publication: | The Journal (Newcastle, England) |
|---|---|
| Geographic Code: | 4EUUK |
| Date: | Feb 20, 2013 |
| Words: | 666 |
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