Reopen local abattoirs

One of the assumptions of modern life is that there will always be something in the supermarket freezer.

However, events of recent weeks have introduced a degree of mystery into that simple idea — what exactly is in the freezer?

As our globalised world becomes ever more dependent on industrial food production it is likely that this question will become more and more pressing. How, after all, can the populations of the world’s huge cities — Tokyo is home to 45m people — be fed without vast industrial and technological food processing?

It seems that escalating urbanisation, population growth, and developing economies will exacerbate that situation and put even more layers between consumers and the original producer of the food we all depend on. This requires a leap of faith not easily achieved after the horse meat revelations.

One of the black marks against the EU is that its legislation forced the closure of scores if not hundreds of small, local slaughter houses. Not only did these businesses offer local employment, in the great majority of cases, they were reliable sources of good quality, trustworthy food.

The scandal of recent weeks suggests that it is time to revisit this issue and facilitate the establishment of some local abattoirs, even on a co-operative basis. We would all benefit.