Pie firm wants fat costs back

By IRENE CHAPPLE

The much-loved meat pie is central to a legal wrangle between Big Ben pies producer Allied Foods and meat company Richmond.

Allied Foods is accusing Richmond of having supplied the wrong grade of pie meat for the past two years.

The company alleges Richmond supplied meat with more fat than the grade it ordered.

Allied Foods chairman Laurie Powell said the meat had to be boiled down more to get rid of the fat and Allied then had to buy more meat to fill the 20 million pies it produces each year.

It alleges the extra costs ran to hundreds of thousands of dollars, which it is now trying to recover.

The parties were in negotiations in the High Court at Auckland last week. Richmond chief executive Graeme Milne said it was hoped they could settle without going to trial.