Funding is being made available to help young and ambitious butchers carve out a career in the meat sector.
Red meat levy body Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has teamed up with butchers body Scottish Craft Butchers to offer financial support to those wishing to further their training and gain the prestigious Craft Butcher Diploma of Scotland.
The diploma is an internationally recognised qualification available to both experienced butchers looking to gain official certification and aspiring butchers who have completed the Modern Apprenticeship in SVQ Meat and Poultry Skills at Level 3.
QMS will support members of its Scotch Butchers Club – a group of more than 250 independent butchers across the UK who stock Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork – to do the training for the diploma by funding 50% of the training fee to the value of £250.
The training will be delivered by Craft Skills Scotland assessors and butchery business owners signing off on the competency of trainees in required areas.
“The Craft Butcher Diploma is held in extremely high regard in the red meat industry and is considered the final piece in the jigsaw to becoming a master craftsman in butchery,” said QMS brands development manager and qualified butcher, Gordon Newlands.
“I went through and attained my diploma in 1986. I still have my certificate and take it with me – it has great merit within the red meat industry at home here in Scotland and abroad.
“We are looking forward to supporting butchers to push their boundaries, and further their skills within the industry.”
Scottish Craft Butchers executive manager, Gordon King, welcomed the initiative and said: “With the increase in demand for butchers, we need to make sure our young men and women are the best that they can be.
“By partnering with QMS and the Scotch Butchers Club we can help position the industry so that butchers are seen as leaders in craftsmanship, product knowledge, provenance, speciality, and innovation in an era when consumers are striving to know m0re about where their food comes from.”
