IT was with some dismay that we read your article 'Deadly enemy' (LET, January 30). The text leaves a number of questions unanswered.

What steps has this butcher taken to ensure that prior to his receipt of the meat, care is taken in its handling? Does the meat only come from abattoirs which have an EU licence and so meet the toughest meat hygiene regulations?

How can his assertion that only 'catering butchers' should be able to supply catering establishments help if the e-coli bug then enters the food chain in a catering establishment? The tone of the article seems to suggest that the bug can only enter the food chain at a butcher's premises.

Is this butcher's belief that only catering butchers should supply catering establishments borne out of a belief that if it was not regulated in his favour he cannot compete with a 'traditional' butcher?

Who set the criteria for the attaining of BS 5750/ISO9000? As I am sure you are aware, the persons applying for this accreditation in many cases write their own standards to which they must adhere. BS 5750 is awarded when these standards are met and therefore may not necessarily be the most rigid of standards that could be applied.

What is the definition of a 'catering butcher' and how is a distinction made?

Does the article mean to imply that the consumer who can physically see the standards used when purchasing meat in a butcher's shop will accept lesser standards than those demanded by a catering establishment? Surely the same set of standards should be applied for all consumers?

It is somewhat naive of a company to set itself above the rest of the industry of which they are a part, as even the best of us can be affected.

Remember, the alleged source of the outbreak of e-coli infection in Scotland was an award-winning butcher.

Standards within the UK food sector are already much stricter than those of other countries, but even the strictest standards in any industry do not eradicate the potential problems that the industry could encounter.

R HEYWOOD, Whalley Road, Wilpshire.

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