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Butchers fear repercussions of illegally packed meat
BSE scare was bad enough, they say

By a staff reporterUnlicensed packers who are illegally providing meat for retail outlets could be the cause of yet another crisis in the food industry, which is still reeling from a series of scares that have dented trade over the past few months.

The secretary of the Meatsellers’ Association, Carmel Dalli, told MaltaToday that to make things worse, many of the outlets receiving the pre-packed meat, such as small grocers and confectioners, do not even have a licence to sell the products.

"For those of us who deal in meat products that have been bought from licensed packers, this trend is very worrying," Mr Dalli said. "Nobody knows how or where this produce is being packed. And the last thing we need at the moment is some sort of outbreak triggered by this malpractice, just as we are recovering from the repercussions of the BSE scare."

Mr Dalli told MaltaToday that he had raised the issue with the Public Health Department on numerous occasions.

"But nothing seems to get done," he said. "We have given our information to the authorities and we have witnessed these products, which include ham, mince, pork and lamb chops, in the shops with our own eyes. Our fear is that some of these perpetrators seem to be too powerful for anyone to want to rock the boat."

Business has been an uphill struggle for the meatsellers and butchers since the BSE scare hit the headlines in Europe at the beginning of the year.

Purchases of beef plummeted to an all-time low in January, with some butchers even recording sales of 0%.

Mr Dalli said that since the crisis had subsided and the somewhat sensationalist headlines had been balanced with objective information about BSE, trade had steadily improved.

"We are estimating that sales of beef now stand at between 75 – 80% of what is was before the scare, which is a vast improvement on the takings a few months ago," he said. "But having endured all of that, and then the worry about repercussions from the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK, we really don’t need any other threats in this fragile business."