An island butcher has backed Shoprite’s call for a public inquiry into the supply of Manx meat - claiming it has experienced major issues with the meat plant.

A&J Butchers, which supplies top hotels, bars and restaurants, says orders have not been fulfilled with little or no notice and inferior quality cuts being substituted in place of premium meat.

But in a statement, Isle of Man Meats said it was ’extremely disheartened’ to hear the claims.

Andrew Gibbs, director A&J Quality Butchers Ltd, said: ’We are experiencing major supply issues of Manx red meat. We have been experiencing similar issues to those reported by Shoprite back in May for a number of months.

’We now feel that a public inquiry is required regarding the lack of volume of locally reared red meat available in the local market. Our issues include lack of fulfilment of orders with little or no notice and inferior quality cuts being substituted in place of premium specification meat ordered, that is of a quality that we are not prepared to serve to our customers.’

Mr Gibbs said the subsided industry should prioritise the domestic rather than the export market.

He added: ’Our customers expect us to provide premium quality local meat but we are being forced to import, which seems wrong when the quality our customers expect is being raised here with taxpayer support and then leaving the island.’

In its response IoM Meats said: ’We currently have excellent product availability and are concerned that A&J Butchers state they are unable to receive what they require.

’A&J Butchers have this week, as in previous weeks, received Manx meat to their specification on all their orders.’

It said there had been a ’one-off’ incident where a mislabelled box was delivered to A&J in error but this was immediately rectified.

IoM Meats said it could not comment on claims of longer-term supply issues as it had not been provided with any specific details.