Over 250 butchers and staff attended the four Dutch Meat Product demonstrations held throughout Scotland in October 2006. The heads of the esteemed Dutch butchers group Keurslager, the acknowledged leaders in meat product development, travelled to Scotland for the first time in their 60 year history. The Director, Ruud Bakker and Main Skills Demonstrator, Robert Nagtegaal were assisted by Roland Snell from Verstegen, Rotterdam at events in Bellshill, Inverness, Perth and Aberdeen.

The 15 new products produced were explained in detail and assembled in no time. In the end the audience was invited to come forward to examiner and discuss the potential of a very different array of mouthwatering meat products.

The events were made possible through the European Social Fund projects in both Lowland Scotland and Highlands and Islands. Those attending received full recipe instructions and a CD of photographs is available to those attending.

This turned out to be a series of evenings that ignited the enthusiasm of craft butchers throughout Scotland, giving them an insight into the marketing strategy of Keurslager butchers and the production of products that would give independent butchers an edge over supermarkets.