The need for a GOOD slaughter house

Here is a letter I sent to Litchfield Locker, I had tried them after someone told me to give them a try, I still have not heard a word from them so now it is time to start sending this letter to all who will listen.

Litchfield Locker & Processing
205 East Main St
Litchfield, Ct 06759

December 09, 2007

Good Morning,

I came to pick up my pork yesterday and I have a few concerns.

1.When I got there and was approached by a man who seemed new to the job the first thing I noticed was confusion, he didn’t know where my meat was, he spoke to one of the butchers who told him there was three names…yet none of my boxes have any name other than mine. He had a hard time finding my meat.

2. In my conversation with you I was told it would take about two weeks to get my order back…it took five and I called you, you didn’t contact me.

3. You told me you could cryovac and label. None of my meat was cryovaced and NO labels were on anything. The man who waited on me said things had been busy there. I thought that each package would have our label on it, each would have a USDA stamp, a list of what the package contained etc. There were none of these.

4. I was told my pig dressed at 161, I got 90 pounds of product of which 10 pounds was fat back.

5. I Express mailed to you our spices for our sausage and yet except for one pack of Italian sausage there was NO SAUSAGE at all. Also our recipe was for breakfast sausage NOT Italian sausage.

6. Ethan and Brieanne(Terra Firma Farm)got their meat weeks ago, I was left out of the loop and had to call them to see if they had heard anything from you.

7. We have a reputation and a product like you just presented to me is NOT up to our standards.

8. I came to you to see if using a local place would work better than Hilltown pork in NY, so this pig was a test, now I doubt that I even got my own pig back.

9. The bacon should have been “fanned” out in cryovac like in the supermarket, it should not be a crumpled mess. I talked to you about smoking our meat longer as I wanted the smoke smell to hit you when you open the package, the bacon has no smoke smell and has no taste. No nitrates does not mean “no taste”

You have failed me big time, now I must call customers and tell them they will have to wait two more months.

I AM NOT HAPPY, where’s my sausage, why wasn’t my order crovaced ( I DID INCLUDE A LABEL FOR YOU TO SEE), why wasn’t the boxes labeled with each individuals name on it and why did it take five weeks to get this done.

Quoting your web site: The Locker was purchased in the summer of 2006 by former chef, Jeff Foglia. As a former chef, he knows how important it is to have only the freshest, high quality products and excellent customer service to keep our customers happy.
In 2007, Bjarne Svensson joined Jeff as the co-owner of The Locker. Bjarne contributes extensive experience as a butcher and meat processor, spanning 20 years and 3 countries. His vast experience is relayed to our customers through his care to deliver the highest quality of meat.
Both Jeff and Bjarne want to preserve The Locker's forty year history of high quality products and services along with excellent customer service.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHANGE YOUR FRONT PAGE BECAUSE THUS FAR YOU HAVEN’T DONE ANY OF THIS.


If I am to bring you up to 200 pigs a year, things MUST be right, this is happ hazard, unprofessional and rinky dink. The folks at Bristol Beef wanted to know when I would bring them more pork, I told them I had to see how you folks did with my order…do you want to guess what my response is…

Waiting to hear something positive from you…

Craig