Hi °C | Lo °C Butchers and organic producers in Ireland are reporting a boom in business as the horse-meat scandal drives consumers to seek out food they can trust.
Hugh Maguire, who has a butcher shop in Ashbourne, Co Meath, said burger sales alone were up 10-15pc, with a lot of new faces as consumers sought out local products whose origins could be guaranteed.
"They've realised you can't make a decent burger for 11 cents which those frozen ones were selling for. Sure the onion I put in mine would cost more than that," he said.
Clif Lenehan, pictured, of Fenelon's butchers in Stillorgan, south Dublin, said there was an increase in both footfall and sales.
"People are asking questions like where's the meat from, because this has made people question what they eat, which is good for us," he said.
Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland said its 400 members nationwide were reporting a similar trend.
Organic meat company John Purcell of the Good Herdsmen in Tipperary said its sales of organic steak and mince were up 5pc as a result of the scare." Food scandals are what make us, look at the BSE scare that was what made organic meat sales really take off, and this latest issue with horse meat is fuelling an increase in sales now," he said.
New research also shows that consumers in Britain and France are less likely to buy processed meat as a result of the discovery of horse meat in beef dishes.
A survey in the UK found some 36pc of consumers were less likely to purchase processed meat as a result, while one in five said they wouldn't buy brands linked to the horse meat.
And a poll in France found 96pc of people there had heard of the horsemeat scandal, and a quarter wouldn't buy products from companies involved such as Findus.
Irish Independent
