RECENTLY, the former Minister for Agriculture, Ivan Yates, announced his plans to make all Irish beef traceable all the way along the food chain. He described his National Beef Assurance Scheme as "Un precedented in the EU" but, as one would expect from a cautious Minister and a cautious Department, the regulations do not go far enough.
BSE came about simply because farmers did not know what they were feeding their animals. The compound feeds did not reveal the ingredients and, believe it or not, this is often still the case.
Had Mr Yates been truly radical, he would have tackled the issue of animal feed stuffs. In the meantime, some farmers and butchers have stolen a march on him and his department, and have set about making meat genuinely trustworthy. And it's not before time. For it is a truth, rarely acknowledged by modern agriculture, that the crisis of confidence which exists in relation to so much of the food we eat exists because farmers have very little to do with the people who ultimately consume their food, and have little impact on the final form of the food.
In the street and country markets it is usually the organic and biodynamic growers who proudly sell their produce, who operate box delivery systems. They are the farmers who know their customers, who are genuinely consumer driven.
In conventional agriculture, however, farmers simply produce crops and rear animals and either don't much know or don't much care where their produce or their livestock end up. Sell to a coop, sell to a wholesaler, sell into intervention. Do anything, in other words, except sell directly to a customer.
This system means, also, that the good farmer only gets the same price for carefully reared animals as does the rogue farmer with his angel dust and the issue of quality is never mentioned.
These factors have been catalysts for the crisis in the beef market, but there are signs that, in different parts of the country, the farmers and the butchers are biting back.
We begin in the very heartland of beef production in Ireland, Co Westmeath.
1: The Midlands
THE display of meat in the window of James Tormey's shop in Mullingar is perhaps the finest example of the art of charcuterie you will find in the entire country. Everything looks immaculate the fabulous prime rib of beef, glorious topside roasts, clever prepared meats such as lean beef for stroganoff and neat barbeque platters, rarities such as cushion of lamb, and fine rack of pork. If you thought only French and German butchers understood the art of making meat presentable, then a visit to Tormey's will show how homegrown skills can be the match of any continental butcher.
And Tormey's completes this idyllic picture by virtue of rearing, slaughtering, preparing and selling its own beef, beef which is among the best I have ever eaten.
There is no mystery as to why it is so good. "It's all about stress on the animals," says James Tormey, "and it's all about trust with the customer."
James Tormey is one of three brothers who run the family's four shops: he has charge of Mullingar, while Christy runs the shop in Tullamore and John takes care of business in Gaway. It was all started in 1943 by the boys' father, Robin Tormey, who opened his first shop in Kilbeggan when he was only 17 years old.
In tandem with the shops, the Tormeys farm 300 acres at Kilbeggan, where the animals are reared and slaughtered in their own abattoir. It is a system which allows this organisation amazing confidence. "I can pick out any piece of meat from the cold room and it will be as good as any other piece," James says. "And it is the same in all three shops. Our secret is that the cattle are minded like babies. It's all about stress: if the animals are stressed, then it can't be good meat."
This sounds not only thoroughly simple but entirely logical. And it is this system of rearing and slaughtering their own animals, allied to such charcutier's skills, which makes for superlative eating. The prime rib of beef, for example, is stupendous.
Marvellously handsome and profound in colour, James will describe the fat wrapped around the rib as "the cream - that's the feed and the treatment of the animal" and will point out the gentle rainbow of muscle that flows through - and distinguishes the structure of the meat itself. Beautifully prepared and chined from the bone, the rib is the most perfect party food I know.
You simply season the exterior, put it in a hot oven to sear for the first 15 minutes, then turn down the heat and give it 10 to 12 minutes per pound before letting it rest for 20 minutes. Whisk some fruit jelly into the juices to finish a simple gravy, bang together a puree of peas, knock up a potato and horseradish mash and all you need do is carve the rib. This is food that just cannot be better.
James Tormey credits his father with the dynamism and energy that drives the organisation: "Dad always says to keep going, keep moving. He is the one who started it all and it is his knowledge and know how behind everything. We never give up; we have to keep on trying." They are assisted by marvellous staff, all of them country people: "We always get the right people, people who want to work," says James.
The BSE crisis of course hit Tormey's initially "but within a few days our customers were back and they said `We know your beef is safe'. What is also important is that we are here all the time; we know everything that is going on."
This care is, of course, a vital element of the pleasure of buying at Tormey's. They take such efforts to make everything look as good as it can that it gladdens the heart. "I love to present things, to really make them presentable," Mr Tormey says.
. C.R. Tormey and Sons, Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar, Co Westmeath 044-42246; Mullingar Shopping Centre, 044-45433; Bridge Street, Tullamore, Co Offfaly 0506-21426; Galway Shopping Centre, Headford Road, Galway, 091-64067.
2: The South-East
TALK to butchers and shop keepers and folk in the meat trade and they will tell you that many of the farm assurance schemes which the supermarkets trumpet, in order to persuade us that beef is safe, are bunkum. But one chain of supermarkets which is devising a scheme which has real meaning is the small Pettitt's chain, based in and around Wexford.
Ten years ago, when people first became concerned about hormones in meat, Pettitt's were buying their meat from wholesalers. In an attempt to reassure customers, they bought a farm and began to rear their own beef cattle. It was such a success that, after only a year, they simply could not keep up with the demand and they began to buy from local farmers who could produce the quality of beef they demanded.
This scheme worked well and helped the company to fend off the BSE crisis, as Karl Strehlow of Pettitt's explains. "Because we were able to trace the origin of every piece of meat, it meant that people were happy and our meat sales were up 10 per cent by the end of May 1996," he said.
Pettitt's even went so far as to hold an open day on their farm, so customers could see exactly how the animals were reared. "We wanted to show that we had no secrets," says Mr Strehlow.
Pettitt's are now planning to take the scheme even further by establishing a leading code of practice among their farmers. To this end, the company will supply farmers with a feeding machine and system manufactured by Richard Keenan and Company, of Borris in Co Carlow.
The Keenan system encourages farmers to produce on their own farms almost all of the feed for their cattle, an echo of bio dynamic farming. Keenans argues that such a system does away with the need to buy in compound feeds - those feeds made by large industrial conglomerates which still, even after BSE, usually do not contain a list of all the ingredients.
"Our farmers can only use high quality feeds, not compound feeds. They must keep records of the animal's diet. It's a simple, straightforward system, and it is our next major step in reassuring our customers," explains Strehlow.
. Pettitt's Supermarkets are in Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey, Athy and Arklow.
3: Up North
IT must have taken some courage for the dozen butchers who form The Northern Ireland Elite Butchers Association to choose that name, in a society where singling yourself out is frowned upon. But when you see the work produced by these people, you know that while such a grandiose moniker may make them unpopular with their colleagues, they are well worth their exalted title.
The idea, says the Elite Association's chairman, George McCartney of Moira, was to allow butchers to exchange ideas, to develop retailing skills, and to organise classes in cookery theory. Huh? Butchers understanding cookery?
Well, yes. I recently judged a competition in Derry, where the 12 contestants demonstrated their skills at preparing lamb, taking it to a stage where it is ready to be cooked by the purchaser. The Elite Association recognise that they have got to move into prepared foods if they are to survive the competition from the super market chains who are invading; the North, and the skills on show in Derry were frequently dazzling.
There was some amazing preparations by Owen McMahon, of Belfast, including lamb brochettes, and loin of lamb with a ring of black pudding threaded though it; sensational lamb sausages with garden mint from McCartney's, who also produced a fine lamb and pasta stirfry; magnificently simple butterflied leg of lamb from George Burns of Bangor; and perfect lamb and leek pies from O'Kanes of Claudy, so delicious they provoked one to reckon they could hardly have been better.
These were just some highlights of the day, but further underpinning the event was the fact the butchers are now guaranteed the very best grade lambs from their suppliers, Foyle Meats. As George McCartney explains: "Traditionally, these were the animals that were exported, and we were left with the rest. That has now changed."