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The National Association of
Catering Butchers was formed in 1983. The founder members of the Association felt that
there was an urgent need to improve the standards of catering butchery in this country.
They decided that this aim could be achieved by laying down strict guidelines for the
operation of catering butchery plants and to make adherence to these guidelines a
condition of membership of the new Association.
In conjunction with the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) an inspection scheme was
established under which NACB members and potential members were obliged to submit their
catering butcher plants to regular inspection by the MLC. The NACB worked closely with the
MLC in the establishment of the Plant Inspection Scheme. The MLC is an independent body
set up by the Government to assist the Meat and Livestock industry in Great Britain: it
has had considerable experience in helping to set up and to monitor quality assurance and
similar schemes in the meat industry for which regular inspection is a requirement. Its
inspectors are specialist in the assessment of meat plants and meat preparations.
The MLC inspector, having completed his inspection visit to the catering butchers
premises prepares his report: one copy is sent to the catering butcher concerned and
another to the NACB. The reports received by the NACB are coded and presented in an
anonymous basis to the Associations Plant Evaluation Committee, which meets on a periodic
basis to assess the reports which are placed in front of them. After due consideration the
Committee awards a grade to each report, which reflects the degree of conformity with the
guidelines laid down by the Association. Grades A,B and C are regarded as acceptable,
whilst a grade lower than C would automatically result in suspension or expulsion from the
Association. No applicant would be admitted to the NACB unless he had been awarded a Grade
C or higher.
NACB Members’ premises are inspected once a year, and in addition are subject to
an unannounced spot check during the year in order to ensure that the standards laid down
are being maintained.
The Guidelines for Inspections of Catering Butchery Plants were first established when
the NACB was in its infancy and over the years the original scheme has been enlarged an
extended so that it now covers virtually every aspect of the business including quality
management’s systems, temperature control, microbiological tests and careful
monitoring of all operations. No quality checks could be more thorough or far reaching and
they give a degree of confidence to the customer greater than under BS5750, EU export
approval or the many outside inspections by general food inspectorates. The NACB Scheme is
specifically designed for the catering butcher rather than any of a wide variety of food
operations.
In the catering butchery sector we believe that the United Kingdom is unique in the EU
in having specialist catering butchers supplying hotels, restaurants, canteens and
institutional catering outlets. In other Member States, the catering sector appears to be
serviced primarily by non-specialist retailers and wholesalers. In this situation we could
justifiably claim that the National Association of Catering butchers is a
";pioneer"; organisation which is setting the pace for other Member States to
follow in the years to come. The catering sector in the United Kingdom can draw
satisfaction from the fact that the establishment of the NACB has led to a national
standard of hygienic, control and quality which is second to none.
C.J. Gadsden
Secretary General
10.2.97
