We asked our Head Butcher Andy Jackson to explain the difference between the meat he buys and sells at The Food Company and the meat sold in UK supermarkets. Now many of the big supermarkets are claiming to have raised their standards, how much of this can you really trust and how much is just more marketing. We obtained the inside story from a man who has worked for some of the big retailers and knows their practices all too well.

The average age of the animals that provide our beef is 24-30 months, the meat is then hung on the bone for 21-28 days creating a flavoursome tender meat. We buy to specifications of cut and quality,not on price, meaning we get the best and pay a fair price to the farmers too.

Pork

All of the pork in Andy's counter is entirely free range and raised on the sandy soils of the Suffolk heritage coast at Blythburgh farms. Blythburgh had worked for a well known supermarket chain producing added value products and were well experienced in pig farming for food production, but the ultra lean meat designed to look good on the shelves of a supermarket is a far cry from the pork demanded by our butchers. It took nearly two years to adapt the free range system, the breeding process and feeding regime to arrive at the end product that they desired. Pigs bred for supermarket meat spend their lives in pens and are slaughtered at a young age. Blythburgh pigs are free to root in the soil so they grow at a much slower rate,this allows the pork to develop flavour and succulence that pork used to have when your Grandma cooked Sunday lunch


Sausages

Every one of our many flavours of pork sausage is made by our butchers in store and he only uses Blythburgh Free Range pork to make them. Only in the very highest class traditional butchery will you find this practice, most high street butchers and all of the supermarkets believe that it is ok to use a lower quality meat for prepared products as the flavours and seasoning will hide the meat itself. We believe the opposite- that the seasoning we use will enhance the natural flavours of the pork and give a superior tasting product.

Contact us at andyj@thefoodcompany.co.uk or telephone 01206 214013.