President of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT) John Mettrick, has written to Secretary of State Owen Paterson MP at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs asking for help to combat a recent decision of a committee of the European Parliament which will impose charges of up to £500 for every Craft Butcher throughout the UK.
The action, taken by the committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) in Brussels, if approved will cost UK Food Business Operators including small slaughterhouses and high street and village butchers millions of pounds each year, according to the NFMFT.
In his letter, the Federation’s President asks Mr Paterson to act as a matter of urgency and that he was “alarmed to discover that the previous proposal” which has been in place for some time “of an exemption in Article 82(2) for micro sized plants had been abandoned without warning” due to strong lobbying by large corporations.
In his letter, copied to Minister of State for Business and Energy Michael Fallon, Mettrick took the opportunity to remind the Shropshire MP: “About genuine concerns about the impact of charging on small businesses”. Mettrick believes the latter to be the ‘engine’ of the economic recovery quoting the vital role they play in securing jobs particularly in deprived areas and “supporting the rural economy as well as enhancing animal welfare”.
The move, to be debated in the European Parliament , if supported could potentially slap annual local authority charges of hundreds of pounds for hygiene and food safety inspections on every Take Away, restaurant, farm shop, public house and all other Food Business Operators including bakers and butchers throughout the UK. Mettrick added that these: “Will discriminate disproportionately against smaller businesses damaging their viability and growth prospects.”
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.
