Welcome for quality assurance ‘wastage reduction’
SAMW has welcomed a report from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) of a significant increase in membership applications for the organisation’s quality assurance scheme.
“The announcement by QMS that 160 new members have applied to join its quality assurance scheme is excellent news for the whole industry, potentially cutting a serious point of ‘wastage’ concerning Scotland’s livestock production,” said Ian Anderson, SAMW’s Executive Manager.
“Some SAMW member companies have been writing to any farmers who deliver stock for slaughter without the necessary assurance backing, pointing out how much they are losing in income. These are often good quality animals, finished in Scotland but unable to be sold under any of the quality assured Scotch brands. Members have pointed out that the lack of the necessary assurance is a complete waste of precious resources and it is good that the message appears to be getting through.”
The Association’s response to the upturn in QMS recruitment follows a warning issued by Association President, Alan McNaughton, during his 2015 conference address in Glasgow on April 18, when he said: “Surely we have reached the point in the development of farm assurance in Scotland, where everyone who produces livestock for a living needs to have a relevant assured status. Somewhere between 5 and 8% of good Scottish beef is currently being lost as a premium branded product, a factor which is likely to cost the producers involved a serious amount of money. At the same time, processors are having to turn down Scotch branded business, not because the product isn’t good enough, but because the necessary assurance is missing. What a waste.”