STACKS and Wellies were the route to awards for local butchers as Cardenden's Andrew Stark found success.

They were delighted to have their quality products recognised at a national level in the 2019 Scottish Craft Butcher Awards.

The most recent evaluation for Ready to Cook products and Barbecue products currently available in Scotland’s butcher’s shops that was judged at Forth Valley College.

Andrew Kirk, from Station Road, Cardenden, won gold for their Honey, Mustard, Steak 'n Black Bacon Pastry Stacks and Silver for Steak Burger Wellington.

Scott Jarron, President of the awards organisers Scottish Craft Butchers added: “We run these evaluations to recognise the innovation and expertise that goes into the quality products that craft butchers make.

"Customers are becoming increasingly interested in sourcing the very best meat products available and our evaluation aids the customer finding all the good products out there at our specialist butchers.”

The awards, sponsored by Verstegen and Scotweigh, attracted around 230 entries from over 40 butchers from the Moray Firth to the Solway Firth in a keenly contested assessment process.

Products from all across Scotland were delivered to the Stirling campus of the College where they were judged by a team of experts under the supervision of Craft Butchers Chief Executive Douglas Scott.

Results were announced at the Scottish Meat Trade Fair in Perth on Sunday 12th May. Scottish Craft Butchers is the consumer facing side of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders. This Federation was incorporated in 1918 to represent the interests of retail butchers and since then have added promotions and competitions to their activities.

They provide a valuable source of help, advice and assistance on food safety and legislative matters. Their training arm, Scottish Meat Training delivers craft training in the sector with on average 200 trainees continually registered on Modern Apprenticeships.