Wednesday 21/11/2018 will see the BBC one show arrive at Howarths butchers, the reason for this visit is to discuss the recent proposal to tax red meat and in particular processed meat products, i believe it will be aired on the one show the week after.
Processed products are meat products that have been manufactured, or had ingredients or other items added to either enhance or preserve the life of the produce.
The general thought process is that the over indulgence of these products may lead to some health complaints, although this has not yet been proven convincingly.
At howarths of flixton we are aware of the need to have a varied moderate diet including vegetables, nuts, pulses, fruit, fish and of course red meat, I feel that singling out and taxing red meat would certainly harm an already fragile industry, peoples budgets are limited, so to introduce another levy on meat would discourage people from choosing red meat as staple source of protein vitamins and minerals of which it has many.
around 90% of nitrate present in our bodies at any given time are present from the consumption of fruit and vegetables, celery actually contains more nitrate than bacon, surprising eh? no talk of taxing celery though?
If you take a moment to count how many butchers you have left around you in your town, it wont take long to realise that we are in fact a dying breed, there are no youngsters coming through the ranks to take over this noble trade, so every time one closes it’s most likely it will not reopen as a butchers, a sad fact i’m afraid!
why are we so important? well most people who shop with butchers consider the butcher to be “their own butcher” and generally pit us against their friends choices, making comparisons about who is the best.
We care about farming methods, we care about animal welfare, we love the job we do in fact, WE JUST CARE, we also produce products that you will never ever get in any supermarket, and i’m sure if you have ever had the pleasure of eating one of my Gold medal winning pork pies you will understand this, along with national championship winning sausages and other produce
So to the 52 week a year regular butchers shop shoppers which i’m glad to say we still have many, keep coming and keep this critically important trade alive thank you!
i will be giving the BBC my opinion as to why you should not have to pay any tax on this wonderful healthy produce.
Kind regards
Jon Howarth
