British butchers “first choice” for sustainability-minded consumers, NCB survey finds

British butchers “first choice” for sustainability-minded consumers, NCB survey finds

Trade body National Craft Butchers (NCB) has today released the results of its first ever survey of British butchers across the UK, which it says demonstrates why butchers are “the first choice for consumers concerned about climate change.”

Butcher slicing meat

The survey, launched in July 2021, found that sustainability and provenance are growing concerns for consumers and for British butchers alike. Reducing food miles and supporting regenerative farming practices and the rural economy are top priorities for the majority of craft butchers.

Some of the survey’s findings include:

  • 87% of respondents prioritise local produce in their shops
  • Six out of ten prefer to sell grass fed, organic or free-range meat
  • 38% will buy animals live direct from market for full traceability
  • Two-thirds rely on a small local abattoir to supply their meat

Over the last 18 months shopping habits have changed. NCB found that 60% of butchers have experienced changes in their usual customer profile since March 2020 – the biggest change being the arrival of younger shoppers “who want to shop locally and care about where their meat comes from.”

NCB said: “Red meat produced in the UK is amongst the most sustainable in the world, so consumers can be confident that British livestock production is part of the solution not the problem.”

Technical manager of NCB Richard Stevenson added: “The results of our first Butchers Survey are a timely reminder that British craft butchers, like the farmers that supply them, take climate change seriously. They sell high quality, responsibly farmed British meat because they believe it’s the best; and so, in increasing numbers, do their customers.”

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