SMALL-scale farmers and food producers in the North York Moors have raised concerns about the difficulties faced by local abattoirs.

Following a consultation in August, secretary of state Michael Gove said in November that CCTV recording will become mandatory in all slaughterhouses in England in 2018.

The policy is popular: a summary of consultation responses showed that of almost 4,000 respondents, more than 99 per cent were supportive of the plans.

When announcing the new law, Mr Gove said: “These strong measures provide a further demonstration to consumers around the world that as we leave the EU we continue to produce our food to the very highest standards.”

However, some farmers have suggested that the added cost of CCTV monitoring systems could prove too onerous for the small family-run abattoirs they use in North Yorkshire - and say it will be down to consumers to “use them or lose them”.

At the monthly Helmsley Indoor Market held in the town hall on Friday, several Ryedale producers expressed concern at the future of simple, local supply chains.

Sarah Wayper farms cows and sheep at Colt House Farm in Bransdale in the North York Moors. She said that fewer abattoirs would lead to longer transport times which affects meat quality. “What’s the point of us rearing our stock for three years, then taking them for a long and stressful drive? The stress ruins the meat,” she said.

She added that larger slaughterhouses often lack in trust and traceability. “You can never be certain you’re getting the same animals back.”

Allan Goodwill runs the Fabulous Meat and Fish Company, based in Welburn, which sources from various Ryedale farmers and sells at markets, including in Malton and Ampleforth.

He said that without local abattoirs, national and even international food production becomes so complex and interconnected that there is less resilience to things like disease.

“It’s becoming more and more of an issue,” he said. “There’s an obsession with centralising food production.

“If we lose the small local slaughterhouses, the devil will call. It may be foot and mouth, but whatever it might be, one day we will end up slaughtering every animal in the country.

“If we follow this system through and end up with giant centralised slaughter, sooner or later you’ll get a beast in Hessle infects a beast in Cornwall and every animal on the way, and it will be nationwide in 36 hours.”

He added that the way to save the businesses has to be consumers buying more locally-produced meat.

“That’s the only thing that will fix this. The bottom line is, if people want quality meat, that will drive keeping the small killing-shops open,” he said.

Peter Mawson, of High Farndale, produces pork, bacon and hogget and sells it online directly to the public, not to supermarkets.

He said that large systems often cut out local farmers. “We’re trying to have a local food network - but if we lost our local abattoir it’d be finished,” he said.

He agreed the change had to come from consumers. “More people need to shop more locally,” he said. “I’d much rather people made an informed choice.”

He added that there are concerns that some small abattoirs may be sold expensive CCTV systems when cheaper ones exist. “I don’t have any problem with them putting CCTV in an abattoir,” he said. “But to what specification and standard?”