Avoiding any future duplication of work between AHDB Pork and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), who look after Scottish pig sector interests, was identified as a key point for further attention during an AHDB presentation at the Royal Highland Show.
AHDB independent member, George Lyon, told Pig World that it was clearly important to identify and avoid any working overlaps between AHDB Pork and QMS, with scope for some industry requirements to be addressed at a UK level while others would be treated on a separate basis.
The Scottish and UK governments are already debating the “repatriation” of levy income raised on Scottish stock which are slaughtered in England, he pointed out,
adding that a “continuation” of the working group set up to resolve that issue could also be tasked with the job of ensuring producers in both Scotland and the rest of Britain received full value for money from their levy payments, without any overlaps or duplications.
Mr Lyon (pictured) also said the current restructuring of AHDB would deliver savings in the region of £1m and that levy payers would “quite rightly” expect that money to be reinvested in support of the industry.
Our headline image shows pupils from Greenwood Academy in Ayrshire celebrating at the Royal Highland Show after emerging as overall winners of a design-a-burger competition run by the QMS-backed Scotch Butchers Club. The school’s winning burger, which triumphed over beef and lamb-based alternatives, was made from Specially Selected Pork.
