British Butcher's meat voted best

Visitors to the John Penny and Sons stand at Harrogate’s Countryside Live let their taste buds do the talking this weekend.  In a blind taste test over 1500 consumers were offered cold cuts of beef topside from John Penny and meat which had been reared using mass production techniques.

The tasting was a huge victory for quality meat with over 80% preferring the taste of John Penny meat which is produced in a natural farming environment and is sold in butchers’ shops.

The taste test was part of John Penny and Sons campaign The Meat Crusade which aims to put quality butchers meat back on the dinner table by raising awareness in quality and taste. The Meat Crusade also encourages consumers to buy quality meat from local butchers, and to offer a greater understanding of how ethical meat operations work.

Says John Penny, company partner, “We wanted to demonstrate to consumers that there is a distinct difference between the flavour of intensively reared meat and that fed on a natural diet and raised in a calm farm environment.  We are delighted that the majority of people could taste the difference.

“A number of people from the meat and farming industry who visited our stand could tell the difference by just looking at the two plates.  We also had a vegetarian visit our stand who has converted back to meat after learning more about the Meat Crusade and talking to us about our humane approach.  It was also good to hear that a lot of visitors either already went to their local butcher or would consider going more frequently after to speaking to us about the Quest for Best campaign.”

Yorkshire meat eaters to take the taste challenge

Think that you have to pay more for fuller flavoured meat?  Think that the meat’s flavour can only be improved by way it is cooked?  Think again says one Yorkshire meat wholesaler which will give this year’s Countryside Live visitors the tastebud test.



For Rawdon-based John Penny and Sons, meat’s flavour is all down to how it is produced, which they will demonstrate to visitors at Countryside Live on 22-23 October.



Members of the public will be asked to taste the difference between like-for-like cuts of meat - one of which has been mass produced and one that is produced by the family business and sold through butchers.  With the taste test, John Penny aims to raise awareness of the difference between mass produced meat and meat reared and produced in a natural farming environment.



John Penny and Son’s presence at the show is to raise awareness of its Quest for Best: The Meat Crusade campaign, which aims to change consumer buying habits and get the public to think differently about the meat they buy and where they buy it.



The family-run company has been supplying top-quality beef, lamb and pork to butchers’ shops all over the country for the last 50 years and believes it’s a very exciting time for the quality meat industry in Britain.  The campaign aims to encourage more consumers to visit their local quality butchers and get the most out of the meat they buy.



Says John Penny, joint owner of the business, “Consumers are presented with an ever increasing amount of meat that is pre-packed and sold for convenience and not necessarily for taste.  What the public might not know is that the mass meat production techniques can impair the flavour and quality of the meat.



“Through our Quest for Best campaign and our presence at Countryside Live, we want people to think about the meat they buy and question whether they are getting quality meat that is also flavoursome.



“We’re confident that visitors to our stand will be able to taste a clear difference between the mass produced meat and our quality meat, which in turn will help drive our Quest for Best message home.”

See John Penny & Sons at stand 043 Hall 1 at Countryside Live, 22-23 October at Yorkshire Showground. Follow them through the weekend via Twitter @johnpennyltd or ‘like’ John Penny & Sons’ Facebook page to get their latest views and updates.  Visit www.johnpenny.co.uk for more information about the company and its Quest for Best: the Meat Crusade campaign.