Josh Francis

Since the horsemeat scandal broke in January this year, a significant number of popular brands were found to contain horse DNA in some of their meat products.

The majority of products found to contain horsemeat were frozen meats and ready meals, and it’s been reported the scandal caused a shift in consumers buying habits.

Lincoln butchers have also noticed changes since the horsemeat scandal.

Ken Roberts, owner of Elite Meats in the Bailgate, believes there has been a positive change since the scandal.

Elite Meats.

He said: “People are going back to their local butchers to get exactly what they want, not what people say it is.

“All our meat is sourced locally so we know exactly where it comes from. We have full traceability because we buy locally.

“People come back to us because they know it’s inferior stuff in the supermarkets.”

Crawshaw Butchers’ owner David Tempest agrees, after seeing positive change for his business.

Crawshaw Butchers.

He said: “Sales have gone up and were having a lot of people coming to us because they’re not sure what’s in the supermarkets.

“We also have a list up on the wall of where our meat is supplied from. They can see exactly where it comes from and trace is back to the farmer.”

However, David Foster of Chatteron and Sons on Sincil Bank found their experience of the scandal didn’t initially start off well.

Chatterton and Sons.

“A scare like this always damages business for about two or three weeks,” he said.

“Though people do have faith in the private sector more than they do in supermarkets, so business did come back.”

For consumers looking for fresh meat in supermarkets though, NFU county advisor Andrew Wilson explained that you can see where meat has come from on some packaging.

He said: “For the past couple of years, the NFU have supported the Red Tractor Assurance scheme. This is where packaging contains a little red tractor, which shows that the meat has met British farm standards.

“If you buy red tractor or from your local butchers, you will have no horsemeat contamination in your food.”

Two local photographers have zoomed out of Lincoln to create a book about the work of charity in the Indian suburbs.

The Asha Society is a charity focused on India, aiming to help those in slums get a better life and help to change the standard of living.

Ed and Maggie Sewell are wedding photographers based in Nettleham who created the powerful images for A Journey of Hope.

Ed, with Maggie’s help, went to India to photograph the day-to-day life of slum dwellers in the country.

Ed said the origin of the book wasn’t by chance: “I don’t believe in chance. For a few years I had a friend who worked quite closely with the charity.

“So in November 2011 I meet the head of the charity and she asked what I did for a living, I told her I was a photographer.’

Ed then explained how his profession came in handy for the charity.

“The head of the charity gave me a stare and then she said she had an idea for a book. She wanted a good book, text light and image heavy, which she can give to the movers and shakers to help the charity do their work.”

He added: “The charity currently influences four hundred thousand slum dealers in 55 slum colonies.

“However that’s out of 4 million dwellers in New Delhi alone, so there’s still bit of work to do.”

While Ed spent eight months in slums taking photos for the book, he made many friends helping to change people’s lives.

He added: “Along the way we’ve made so many friends. It’s great to see woman to get so em-powered and educated so that they can then challenge the government and help improve life in the slums.”

Maggie also commented on what life was like in New Dehli.

“It’s so different from here in the UK. It’s so hard to describe without you actually going to see it, it’s such a beautiful place.”

The book costs £15. To get a copy, contact the charity on [email protected].