At a consultation meeting called by Parliamentary Secretary for Small Businesses and the Self-Employed, the butchers were given the opportunity to ask any questions they had regarding new health regulations being implemented.

“The most important issue to be faced is how to improve the quality of the product,” said Mr Vassallo. This issue can present an opportunity for a better future and better business if it is tackled properly.

The butchers eagerly wanted to know why the sausage factory was closed, a move they claim has left them no option but to make their trimmings into sausages themselves, thereb causing them further problems.

Health Authority representative Malcolm Micallef explained that the sausage factory was closed due to problems with permits. “A month before the factory was going to close we notified everyone who made their sausages there,” he said.

When one of the butchers complained that the authorities had told him he needed a stainless steel table to make his sausages, Mr Micallef explained that this was a regulation being implemented to reduce contamination.

Martin Seychell, of the Malta Standards Authority, went on to explain exactly why this is so important. The butchers were all ears to understand why they were being asked to put up additional work surfaces.

“If a work surface is clean it does not mean that food placed there is safe,” he said. Out of the meat sold at butchers, sausages are almost the only item that is sometimes eaten raw.

Cooking usually makes the food safe, but if eaten raw the risk of contamination and food poisoning is much higher, said Mr Seychell. He explained to the butchers that if they put chicken, that carries a lot of bacteria like salmonella, on the same work surface on which they make sausages, then there is a great possibility that the sausage will be contaminated.

Mr Vassallo told the butchers that their old ideas of how things should be done need to be thrown out for them to accept the new regulations. This is a new code of practice that must be followed for everyone’s benefit, he said.

These discussion meetings give traders and entrepreneurs the opportunity to discuss any problems they are facing with the relevant authorities. Mr Vassallo said that if anyone of the butchers could foresee any problems in the near future, considering Christmas is the busiest period of the year within the trade, they should speak up and a solution would hopefully be found.

Businessmen should keep environmental issues in mind as well as the ways and means to make the best use of the energy available, said Mr Vassallo.