Small abattoirs in Cornwall could be forced out of business by rising costs of veterinary checks on them, those in the industry have warned.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been consulting on increasing fees and removing a discount scheme on the inspections.
Owners feared that would cost them tens of thousands of pounds extra a year and see more of them closing for good.
The government insisted it was committed to working with those in the industry to help them tackle the challenges they face.
Mark Rowe, who owns Trevarthen abattoir and butchers, in Roskrow, said his bills were due to go up by £70,000 because of the proposed changes.
He warned: "The legislation is forever changing and that means it's more of a cost towards a business. The costs just get more more each year and this is the reason why abattoirs are closing."
He said they were "up for the fight" of staying open – but warned others may not survive.
"The structure of the rural community is so fragile. The government needs to be looking at funding for the local abattoirs.
"They're not going to be around in a minute and then you're going to be talking about importing from the other side of the world," he added.
Kevin McFadden, who shut his small abattoir in St Just-in-Penwith a couple of years ago, said: "There's nobody opening up any new abattoirs.
"To open one now would probably be in excess of £2m-£3m and it ain't there because there's no real return on that money.
"So this isn't going to come back. When we lose these skills and when we lose these abattoirs – that's it.
"You can have your two or three acres, you can rear your animals, but there'll be nobody to kill them."
