healthy bacon

Feb 26 2010 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

RURAL Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead joined more than 300 Scottish farmers – including many from East Perthshire – to sample a new healthier bacon.

The production process to make the bacon, which is 25% lower in salt and more than 20% lower in fat than industry average, was developed as part of a Quality Meat Scotland project match-funded by Scottish Enterprise.

Among those gathered at St Andrews’ Fairmont Hotel for NFU Scotland’s agm, and joined Mr Lochhead in giving their seal of approval to the new “healthier” bacon, were Crieff-based NFUS President Jim McLaren and QMS chairman Donald Biggar.

The bacon was presented to the gathering by Kenny Allan, general manager of Irvine’s of Perthshire, the butcher’s business which worked with QMS on the project.

Mr Allan was joined by David Soutar, farms director of Strathmore Farming Company, which supplied the pigs to the Blairgowrie-based firm for the big breakfast.

The fare was developed in a project to investigate the potential to lower the salt and saturated fat content of eight traditional Scots favourites – including black pudding, sausages and Scotch pies – without sacrificing the flavour that makes the products so popular.

The £40,000 project saw QMS working with seven different meat producers.

Also playing a key role was the food innovation team from Dundee’s Abertay University, whose members rose to the challenge of developing the healthier formulations.

Mr Lochhead declared: “Like many others I enjoy the occasional bacon roll, so this new bacon is good news for the industry – and our health.

“Recently, we’ve seen healthier versions of burgers, sausages and even the famous Scotch pie being produced by the sector as it responds to consumer demand for healthier food choices as part of a balanced diet.

“It’s encouraging to see one of our breakfast favourites join the list and I look forward to seeing others in the future.”