Waitrose sets up own frozen meat facility

waitroseUK supermarket chain Waitrose has announced that it is to build its own facility to produce a range of frozen meat products.

The new unit is planned to be operational within the next three months and will be based at Dovecote Park’s facility in Yorkshire.

Dovecote Park has been exclusively supplying Waitrose with fresh beef products, including fresh burgers, steaks and joints, since 1997. All the beef processed by Dovecote Park is sourced from a known and trusted group of British farmers.

Following the Europe-wide horsemeat scandal, Waitrose took the precautionary measure of removing two frozen meat products, beefburgers and meatballs – not produced by Dovecote Park – from its branches.

The frozen beef burgers were put back on sale after tests confirmed that the meat in the product was 100 per cent beef. More recently, one test on frozen meatballs showed that the meat in them was 100 per cent beef. However, another test indicated there may be some pork in some of the meatballs and the product was subsequently taken off sale. Neither frozen beefburgers nor frozen meatballs tested positive for horsemeat.

“Our customers rightly expect the highest standards of product quality and integrity from us and we won’t let anything stand in the way of our delivering this,” says managing director Mark Price. “Dovecote Park is a dedicated supplier to Waitrose. They share our values and our commitment to British farming so extending our joint activities into a range of frozen meat products is a tremendously positive move.”

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