Beef is best for summer grills!!

Summer's here and the barbecues are being dusted down. Our favourite for a family barbecue is a juicy steak - but, like most royal meats, the cut you choose will determine the taste you get!

So, how do you cook the perfect barbecue steak? Firstly, try to purchase your beef 2-3 days before you plan to cook it. Slightly aged beef is more tender as natural enzymes have had time to soften the muscle fibre.

The best cut for a barbecue steak is a 20mm thick cut of even thickness. The sirloin and scotch fillet are ideal and need little more than a sprinkling of seasoning before grilling.

Larger cuts such as the rump or T-bone are slightly tougher cuts and are best marinated before grilling. Marinades not only preserve and refine your meat’s taste - they also tenderise the meat. Try Red Wine & Garlic Marinade for a rich, succulent bite.

Save our bacon

You've`e probably heard in recent months that many pig farmers are in crisis with the cost of feed rocketing this has prompted celebrity chefs like Gordan Ramsey and Rick Stein to launch the "save our bacon" campaign.

The problem is that feed costs have doubled in the past year. Farmers lose £26 on every animal they produce. Imported meat hasn’t helped either with less rigorous welfare standards abroad mean foreign pork is cheaper. No wonder so many farmers have thrown in the towel.

'The industry is close to meltdown it has had its share of difficulties in the past but never anything on this scale and this suddenly,' said Jon Bullock, spokesman for the British Pig Executive. Pig farmers are launching a massive campaign to highlight their plight in the hope that it will persuade the public to buy British pork and bacon.

Burt's family butchers are proud to be supporting British producers and offering high quality locally sourced British pork to their customers.

Support our Brighton to Paris charity bike ride

The Burts cycle team has assembled to take part in a charity bike ride from Brighton to Paris.

Our intrepid cyclists will take 3 days to complete the 150 mile trip traveling 50 miles a day in order to raise money for the Argus appeal.

If you would like to sponsor us then please visit www.justgiving.com/teamlaughinggravy2008.

Chefs attack government over school meals

Two celebrity chefs have attacked the government for abandoning promises to spend at least 50p on healthy ingredients for school meals, calling the decision "fatal".

Chefs have attacked the Government for abandoning its promise to spend at least 50p on healthy ingredients for every school meal.

The pledge was made in 2005 by Ruth Kelly, then the education secretary. However, as it was disclosed that many local authorities are not hitting the 50p target, Kevin Brennan, the schools minister, said yesterday that there is no minimum requirement on ingredients for school meals.

Antony Worrall Thompson, the television chef, said: "When the big campaign to get better school dinners was launched, the Government jumped on board to appease Jamie Oliver and now that it has died down they have just ditched it. It is a disgrace really."

It`s summer time.

It`s summertime again (although by looking at the weather you would never guess) and so the Brit's love affair with the barbecue begins again in earnest.



But beware, health experts warn that cooking food outdoors can drastically increase the risk of food poisoning. That's because it is harder to keep foods very hot or very cold and to keep everything clean.

So, here are six simple rules to follow to stay safe this barbecue season:

• Light the barbecue well in advance and wait until it is glowing red (with a powdery grey surface) before starting to cook.

• Keep meats, salads and other perishable foods in a cool bag with ice packs or in the fridge until just before cooking or eating them. Serve salads at the last minute

• During cooking, turn food often. If it starts to burn on the outside raise the grill height or reduce the heat of the charcoal (dampen coals slightly or partially close air vents)

• Cook poultry, burgers, sausages and pork throughout - no pink bits in the middle. If possible, fully pre-cook all poultry and sausages in the oven or microwave then take it straight to the barbecue to add the final barbecue flavour.

• Keep raw and cooked foods apart at all times. Don't handle cooked foods with utensils that have touched raw meats or put cooked or ready-to-eat food on plates that have held raw meats.

Finally, if you are looking for quality barbecue meats, then look no further than Burts Family Butchers for the finest sausages, burgers, chciken and steaks!

Calls for honest labelling

Country of origin labelling of meat products is not clear enough despite three-quarters of consumers wanting to see the name of the country of origin on the pack, according to a new NFU report.

The report, issued by the Meat and Livestock Commission on behalf of the union, has urged supermarkets to clearly label food with country of origin information so consumers can choose to buy food reared to high standards on British farms.

NFU president Peter Kendall said better labelling was vital to help farmers harness consumer demand to support British produce. “The need for honest and clear labelling is hugely important,” he said.

Burt sources all its meats from reputable suppliers that we trust. Whilst most of them have been supplying us for many years, each of them must still meet our most stringent quality control standards.

Best of British!

We have been buying fine beef and lamb from Scotland for many years now. Scotland has long enjoyed a deserved reputation for high quality meat and our beef is hung for 14 days at source then hung for a further 7 days on our own premises to ensure a consistent quality.

In addition to supplying pork and chicken we also offer an extensive range of cooked meats and other wholesale catering supplies including:

Burt’s Famous home-made sausages
Finest scottish beef
Beautiful home cooked meats

So, if you want reassurance about the origin of your meat - why not pay Burts a visit?

NFU calls for ban on beef from Brazil

NFU President Peter Kendall has called on the EU Commission urgently to consider banning imports of beef from Brazil, in the light of further reports of serious breaches in cattle identification regulations in a country where foot and mouth disease is endemic.

Speaking at the Herefordshire NFU annual meeting in Hereford last week, Mr Kendall said: “Livestock farmers across Britain have just endured four months of misery as we have complied with the strictest animal movement and biosecurity regime imaginable, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds, in order to satisfy the EU veterinary authorities that our beef, lamb and pork can safely be allowed back into international trade.

“Had our precautions, and in particular our arrangements for tracking and verifying the movement of livestock, been found wanting in the slightest particular, it would have set back the timetable for the lifting of trade restrictions by months.

“Yet now we understand a very different set of rules applies to our main competitors, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in Brazil. In previous inspections, the EU’s Food and Veterinary Organisation (FVO) has found serious shortcomings in the arrangements in the Brazilian cattle traceability and other record-keeping arrangements.
“Last year, an investigation by the Irish Farmers Associations found evidence of deliberate malpractice, which suggested that cattle from regions of Brazil where foot and mouth disease is endemic and from which exports are supposed to be banned, were being illegally re-tagged in order to disguise their identity and origin.

“Now we understand that the most recent FVO inspection has identified breaches of animal ID requirements so serious that, according to unconfirmed but entirely plausible reports, the Brazilians have offered to restrict exports themselves in the hope of pre-empting more drastic action by the EU.

“This is not an acceptable situation. The same strict standards should be applied to the traceability of meat imported into the EU as apply to meat produced in the EU, in the interests of consumer protection, disease prevention and fair trade.

“We shall be calling on the EU Commission to act on the findings of the latest FVO inspection without delay and impose an immediate ban on imports from Brazilian beef until the Brazilian authorities have satisfied EU officials that they are fully compliant with the rules.

“That is what has been expected of livestock producers in this country as the price for our meat being allowed back into international trade, and I can see no reason at all why a similar level of compliance should not be expected of our competitors.”

The Brazilian Beef Information Service (BBIS) has responded with claims that Kendall is “misguided” in calling for the ban on beef exports from Brazil.

“He has jumped aboard an anti-Brazilian bandwagon without seemingly understanding the facts,” said director Rob Metcalfe.

“A ban on Brazilian beef would be bad for consumers and bring no benefit at all to the British farmers he is trying to protect.”

According to the BBIS, it is a scientific impossibility for exports of Brazilian beef to present an FMD threat to the EU.

Metcalfe said that, in fact, the EU must be more tightly regulated than Brazil because of its history of disease and its production system. EU regulations were developed in the wake of BSE, a disease which never existed in the Brazil, and the EU regime is designed to deal with small, intensive farming operations where animals are kept in close proximity- a system of farming that does not bear relation to Brazil’s extensive year-round grazing.

“That said, Brazilian farmers and exporters are determined to meet whatever standards EU scientists (as opposed to protectionist farmers) stipulate are right for our way of producing beef,” he said.

Brazil has supplied Europe with beef for over 75 years and Brazil is now the world’s biggest beef exporter. Supporters of Brazilian beef believe that the increased competitive pressure on small intensive beef producers in Ireland and the UK has resulted in an orchestrated campaign of anti-Brazilian beef propaganda.

“The sad thing is that if Brazilian beef was banned, prices would rise, making beef simply unaffordable to many consumers,” Metcalfe said.