Shops start selling beef on the bone

1 December 1999



Shops start selling beef on the bone

By Johann Tasker

SHOPS and restaurants have resumed selling beef on the bone, even though the lifting of the ban on sales doesnt formally come into effect until 17 December.

Safeway said that beef on the bone was being sold at its Camden Town store in London, and would be stocked at its other supermarkets before the weekend.

The move is likely to deflect some of the criticism directed towards Safeway by farmers recently asked to pay for the in-store promotion of some food products.

Fiona Bailey, Safeways commercial director, said the supermarket wholeheartedly supported the end of the two-year-old ban on beef on the bone.

“Its what customers want and is great news for the British beef industry and retailers alike,” she said.

Sainsburys, too, is selling beef on the bone over the counter at five London stores after carefully considering the announcement that the ban would be lifted.

Tony Sullivan, Sainsburys meat manager, said the company had prepared large colour posters to attract the attention of customers and kick-start sales.

“We have been preparing for the lifting of the ban for some time and have had promotional material printed for weeks,” he said.

Restaurants are also serving beef on the bone – and some have never stopped since the controversial ban was introduced almost two years ago.

Alan Coomber of the Bell Inn in Iden, East Sussex, continued to served T-bone steaks regardless of the ban, and still faces court action for doing so.

“It should never have been in place in the first place,” he told Farmers Weekly.

Although bone-in sales of beef remain officially illegal until the ban is formally lifted on 17 December, no-one is unlikely to be prosecuted for jumping the gun.

Announcing the end of the ban, agriculture minister Nick Brown hinted that no action would be taken against those who start selling joints immediately.

“I know enforcement authorities will wish to take notice of my statement,” he told MPs in the House of Commons.

• Industry hails end to bone-in ban, FWi, today (01 December, 1999)
• Brown lifts beef-on-bone ban, FWi, Yesterday (30 November, 1999)
• NFU accuses Safeway in cash-for-promo row, FWi, 18 November, 1999