30 January 2012, 16:11 PM
  • New rules introduced by the Food Standards Agency could leave independent butchers, farm shops and delis struggling to survive
Fsa Rules Trouble Indie Businesses

Proposed guidelines on the control of E-coli could threaten the business of small shops as the agency expects companies to pay for the inspections.

A butcher from Ipswich George Debman, has spoken out on these issues. He told regional newspaper, EADT, “It is quite apparent that these regulations are forcing many butchers to consider their future, because they are faced with an uneven playing field,” he said.

Chris Soule, chairman of the FSB’s Suffolk branch, said, “The economy of Great Britain, this region and the county of Suffolk depends on a food industry sector that is able to function well and be confident of steady growth. Good government should not work against the industry but work with it.

“You can say with absolute certainty that our European competitors would not impose such disabling regulations and expense on their farmers and food industry, which suggests that the UK government has got it totally wrong. But maybe it is the intention of a nanny state to offer the British public homogenised pap rather than interesting and high quality food.”