A Manx butcher has expressed his frustrations online after stating he is let down by Isle of Man Meats on a ‘regular basis’.

Lee Mayers, who runs the Traditional Butchers and Bacon Curers shop in Kirk Michael, has said the firm that runs the meat plant at Tromode has been ‘letting us butchers down on a regular basis’.

Commenting on Facebook, Mr Mayers said: ‘As you all know, I have tried my best to push and supply the very best of Manx meats, but since Christmas Isle of Man Meats have been missing parts of our delivery orders.

‘Last week I put an order in to be delivered today (Monday, June 10) and was told by the sales manager that the order will be fine. However, I received a phone call at 11am to be told I have no pork trim coming, so I can’t make sausages now. There will also be no lambs until later in the week. Most of the order is missing.

‘I am not the only butcher having this problem, it is all of us.’

Because of the disruptions to his deliveries from Isle of Man Meats, Mr Mayers has now started ordering produce from across in the UK.

He has urged his customers to not be put off by this, and said he will only go back to solely using Manx produce ‘if things start to change’.

He continued: ‘I can’t keep turning customers away, which has pushed me into bringing in meat from across. This isn’t something I wanted to do, but there is no communication or support (under the current management at the Meat Plant) for the butchers who are telling customers it will be here for it not to turn up.

‘It might seem like a long-winded way of going about it, but it’s quicker to get it from a plant across in the UK than the one that is only 20 minutes up the road from my shop.

‘If things change then I will go back to using Manx produce, but I can’t see anything changing as these problems have been going on for roughly six months now.’

Failings at the Isle of Man Meat Plant have been under the spotlight in recent years. Back in November 2022, an audit into the Meat Plant was published which found major challenges that needed addressing, including the improvement of the sales model, increasing the throughput of the plant through operational efficiencies and improving training for employees.

To add, almost two tonnes (1859kg) of meat was disposed of during the month of April this year because of errors with ‘stock management’, a situation that DEFA Minister Clare Barber described as ‘disappointing’.

However, a spokesperson from the Meat Plant has said that it has enjoyed a ‘successful’ TT week and that all butchers were made aware of possible disruptions.

They said: ‘We are disappointed to see the post from one of our butchers around stock availability, particularly after such a successful TT with Manx meat enjoyed by all.

‘We would like to confirm we planned well ahead for TT week, increasing the amount of throughput in the weeks prior to the event and creating and delivering stock throughout.

‘Due to the location of the factory, we did not bring animals through the access road during the racing week as it causes undue distress and we are focused on providing the highest levels of welfare.

‘This was communicated to all our customers to enable them to pre-plan. This mirrors the operations of previous years and means we have no carcass stock e.g. whole lambs and on-the-bone cuts until Wednesday, June 12 and onwards.

‘Our team do an incredible job and we would like to thank them for their hard work up to and during TT.’