“Some schools are paying a high price for foreign low grade mince when there is higher quality mince at a better price from local farmers.”

In June 2005, after appearing on Radio 4's Food Programme, Anthony Davison, MD with Big Barn Ltd., received an email from the caterer at Samuel Whitbread school asking if he could help her source some locally produced beef mince at a good price. As the school was local and knowing a few beef farmers Anthony phoned around and persuaded them to quote a just better than break-even price.

Local vs imported — the cook-off

“I thought they would probably be happy to do this as I knew that most were experiencing more local consumer demand for steaks and joints than fore quarter meat, normally minced. I also quoted the caterer the discounted price to make some Bedfordshire sausages for the children to taste, and I offered to visit the school for a ‘cook off’, to test the weight loss in cooking the imported frozen free flow mince she was using compared to the fresh local lean mince.”

On the visit one of the beef farmers and Anthony met the team of dinner ladies and helped cook the frozen free flow and local mince. The frozen mince released a very nasty 'offal' smell and melted down to a mixture of fat and grainy brown gunge. The local mince had to be stirred more but gave off a delicious meaty smell causing two people walking past to pop in to ask what was cooking.

And the winner is. . .

At the end of the cooking process the 2.5kg of frozen mince was sieved ( as usual apparently ) and 0.7kg (30%) of fat drained off. The local mince smelt so good and produced so little fat that there was virtually no weight loss at all. This weight loss differential meant that the local mince was actually cheaper than the imported mince, and at the farmers usual wholesale price, not just the original price quoted.  It also took less fuel to cook and less time for the caterers to prepare so in the long run it is not only more sustainable in terms of energy efficiency (bearing in mind transportation as well) and labour, but is also better value in terms of both price and quality.

Best bangers!

And what became of the sausages? “I took trays round the dining room and they were so popular that one boy asked if he would have to sign a petition to get them on a regular basis and a girl, who said she hated sausages, asked for more!”

So where next?

Anthony realised that he could either hand the contract to the nearest farmer able to fulfil the order or, create a farmers’ co-operative and find more schools to buy from them. The former would work but would also leave the farmer open to other farmers undercutting the price to win the contract. Anthony preferred the latter option and has since helped to form the ‘Taste of Bedfordshire Co-operative’ who are now supplying 12 local schools.

Big Barn are keen to promote this idea throughout the country as they see it as the most efficient and sustainable way for all concerned, farmers and schools alike.  For more information on Big Barn’s work email ant@bigbarn.co.uk

Postscript

It is also worth noting that the children at Samuel Whitbread school now expect their burgers from Taste of Bedfordshire and will grumble if given anything else.