National Craft Butchers (NCB) has launched its Trading Standards Manual, which it said provides "comprehensive legally backed advice" for retail, catering and wholesale butchers.
The manual was produced after NCB contacted East Sussex Council to investigate forming a "coordinated partnership" to offer Assured Trading Standards Advice to its members. The partnership was approved by the Secretary of State in late 2022 and work on the advice started in 2023.
Developed with its Primary Authority partners East Sussex Council, as well as NCB member advice service Safer Food Scores, the manual is intended as a "one-stop reference guide" for members and their teams. NCB said it would provide the guidance to ensure that if correctly followed, both compliance and best practice standards are achieved in a business.
David Gigli, NCB president, said: "This is essential information for NCB members and butchers throughout England. Assured Advice provides peace of mind and helps ensure your business is legally compliant. It offers protection and will help you train your team."
Eleanor O'Brien, managing director, added: "Having formed one of the first coordinated partnerships in the country back in 2013 it has been a delight to extend this and embark on this new coordinated partnership with East Sussex Council. NCB's assured advice will now cover Trading Standards, Food Safety and Health and Safety, and is an essential benefit to any craft butcher."
NCB highlighted that in a recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) report on Natasha's Law, around 450 businesses said that new labelling requirements had increased costs while almost 300 felt they "needed more information" to comply with the new legislation.
It said that by contrast, NCB members had access to the NCB Natasha's Law Guide, with the result being that 92% of craft butchers stated that they were compliant compared to 66% of the businesses who responded to the FSA survey.
The Trading Standards Manual is available to NCB members via the NCB website.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
