THREE lamb carcasses and a quantity of lamb joints were ordered to be destroyed, following an Exeter Civil Court hearing last Friday.
Magistrates heard the meat, seized from a butcher?s premises at Whiddon Down, had not been slaughtered at licensed premises and was not subject to the normal health and hygiene controls.
The court was told that West Devon Borough Council environmental health officers found the meat last week, stored in a chiller at Dartmoor Happy Hogs, Moorlands Farm Shop, run by Peter Pavitt.
Council officers seized the meat ? three lamb carcasses, seven breasts and a forequarter of lamb ? until Friday?s hearing at Exeter Magistrates Court.
The court heard environmental health officers discovered the meat had not been health-stamped.
Mr Pavitt, who defended himself at the hearing, said the meat, the product of a farm home kill, was only being stored at the premises as a favour to a friend. He had intended to cut it up in his own time and it was not for sale. He told the magistrate he had an unblemished record of 40 years in the butchery trade, held a game licence and had a good knowledge of what was edible and what was not.
The court ordered the meat to be destroyed and Mr Pavitt was told to pay the council costs of £1,005.