Local butchers hit out against Animal Aid claims

Still, that’s exactly what a few brave souls from the pressure group Animal Aid did, warning members of the public off eating bacon, sausages and ham on health grounds.

Whether wisely or by happy accident, it was in Lanark and not Carluke High Street they tried to put over their message.

For while they would hardly be welcomed with open arms by the Lanark butchers, perhaps even less of a friendly reception would have awaited them in Carluke, the home town of Ramsays, arguably Scotland’s most famous ham and bacon producer.

Whatever, the campaigners sincerely believe in their cause and claim that there is a direct link between bowel cancer and the eating of such processed red meats.

Andrew Ramsay, the latest of several generations of renowned Carluke ham curers and butchers, thought differently.

He said: “As I recall, these campaigners keep quoting a scientific report from 2007 to back their claims.

“But the findings of that report were based on testing industrially massed-produced foodstuffs and things like high salt salamis.

“That’s absolutely NOTHING to do with our butchers’ good old Scottish traditionally cured, artesan meat products.”