Fine Scotch flesh

your article (2 March) on the butchers’ lifeline can easily be extended to other meats. We shop at two local fleshers whose supply is fine: a full range based only on local beef, pork, lamb and chicken, with many home-cooked products from bridies to corned beef. When I want mince, I select slices of spale and hough and ask for them to be minced.

Horsemeat was still on sale in the 1950s and some folk would buy it today as it is cheaper and better for us; I certainly would. Veal is popular in many countries and rose veal fed on milk and grass is available from several outlets and farmer markets here. Water buffalo is produced in Fife. Wild and farmed venison is available, but seldom in fleshers – indeed, there is a surplus of this healthy meat. It is extraordinary that Scotland should rely on imported meat when our farmers produce the finest in the world.

Lastly, the frozen foods that are suspected of containing horse or pork should not be wasted but sold off for what they are at reduced prices. Then, everyone should buy their meat from butcher’s shops.

PETER MURRAY SPENCER

Castleroy Crescent

Dundee