BLACK puddings have been given the chop at some butchers' stalls on Bury Market.

New licensing laws which came into force on Wednesday mean that butchers will now need a special licence to sell raw meats and cooked food, including Bury's famous delicacy, alongside each other.

Black puddings, which can be eaten raw, are classed as a ready-to-eat product, but small butchers are claiming that the cost of an annual licence, a separate fridge and separate scales for the puddings means that it will no longer be worthwhile to sell them.

Butcher Shaun Fitzsimon, who runs the Scotch Beef Shop on Bury's outdoor market has now axed black puddings from his counter.

He said: "It's farcical. I can't even sell a jar of mint sauce because that's classed as a cooked product."

"If the new rules prevent any form of food poisoning its got to be a good thing and we will comply with them, but this seems to be going overboard. For years butchers on the market have sold black puddings. It's part of being Bury."

"We get a lot of tourists on this market and for them it's like going to Blackpool and not having rock."

The new laws follow recommendations in the Pennington Report, commissioned in the wake of a fatal e-coli outbreak in Scotland.

Senior environmental health officer Stephen Hoyle said: "It doesn't mean the end of traditional products like black puddings, it means that people who sell those products must control the risk of cross contamination.

"They should contact us and we can advise them on what to do because we're here to help businesses comply."

Family butcher Peter Maguire, who has a licence for his shop on Sunnybank Road, welcomed the the measures.

"I think this job's wanted tightening up for a long while," he said. "A lot of butchers have had their heads in the sand but we all knew what was going to happen."