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hughs chickens and tesco`s
Comments
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katholicos wrote: »If all that is on the shelves are two for a fiver chickens then the not so discerning or (through no fault of their own) those who are unaware of the plight of the chicken, will buy what they see.
You are missing the point, people have known about the plight of chickens for decades, and they just don't care. I remember being taught about battery hens and intensive farming at school in the 70's. It was portrayed as the way of the future, a good thing that makes farming better because they can feed more people for less space. Nobody mentioned, or cared about the chickens, just that there would be more of them on sale and they would be cheaper to buy.
There have been many documentaries about the plight of these chickens over the years, none have had the slightest effect. The only difference this time is they are fronted by celebrity chefs instead of Horizon presenters you've never heard of.katholicos wrote: »While I appreciate what you are saying, how many shoppers are buying their meat and poultry elsewhere (like me) because the shelves in Tesco are often devoid of the kind of chicken that myself (for the most part, though not always) and others choose to purchase?
Not enough to make Tesco's back down one inch. It's been a year now since the first programme, and all those people who were on the green and ethical board demanding Tesco stop selling cheap chickens and only sell FR ones.
What have Tesco done since then? Nothing at all. Why? Because the few who are shouting about chickens do not compare to the numbers who are quietly going into Tescos and buying the cheap chickens.
They may have lost a few customers because they don't sell enough FR chickens, but all the publicity about their 2 for a fiver chickens gained them a lot more customers. People who were buying a chicken for £3 in ASDA suddenly found if they travelled a bit further to tesco they could get two for a fiver.katholicos wrote: »I don't neccessarily advocate a veto on cheap chicken..not with any immediacy anyway....these things have to be filtered in slowly. No one wants to be told that they can't have 2 chickens for a fiver if that is what they want. But just because something is as it is, doesn't mean it necessarily should continue as it is.
That's very true, but most people don't see it as being something wrong, so they don't want it to change.katholicos wrote: »As HFW highlighted in last night's show...Tesco should certainly have upheld the criteria with regard to chicken farming, which they claim to uphold and which as HFW pointed out, is not being adhered to...thus misleading the consumer.
I can't really comment as I lost interest in the programme and can't really remember much about it. This even though I was looking forward to watching it to the point where I put the TV on, and alram on my computer to make sure I didn't miss it, and had the TV on on my computer. Somewhere allong the line I lost interest in it.katholicos wrote: »In addition to this, rather than having a fourty foot long refrigerater filled with two for a fiver chickens in most of their stores, perhaps Tesco could have at least a quarter or a third of it filled with alternative, freedom food/RSPCA standard chicken?
I agree, but I think there could be two reasons for them not doing this.
1. There is not the demand for them. The number of people buying them, or wanting to buy them may be so small as to make it not worth while. I saw this happen in my local Somerfield after the last programme. A month of so after the programme they started selling FR chicken, and it flew off the shelves (no pun intended). If you went in at 9.00 am it was all gone. Gradually over a few months less and less people were buying it. You could go in at lunch time and the shelves were still more than half full. After about three or four months you could go in at 6.00pm and pick it up for half price. Then they cut down and only stocked about a quarter of what they were stocking.
2. The supply is not there. After the last programme some people thought the shops would be full of FR eggs the next day, and some people blamed the shops when they weren't. As I pointed out then, you can't increase egg, or chicken production over night. If a farmer has 100 hens that lay one egg per day he can only supply 100 eggs per day. If demand doubles over nght, because of a TV programme or any other reason, he cannot increase the number of eggs he has for sale. All he can do is incubate more eggs and hatch more hens. Once these hens reach laying age his production will increase, but until that time he can only supply 100 eggs per day.
Now, suppose the demand for FR egg and chicken goes up over night because of these programmes.. So the supermarkets demand more, which they would as they have customers willing to buy them. But it takes months for the farmer to increase his production. But, by the time the farmer has reared more hens/chickens the demand has fallen off, because most people were shocked into wanting FR by the programme, but that shock soon wore off. What does the farmer do with the extra eggs/hens/chickens? He can't sell them and if he keeps them he is losing money.
So his production goes down again and the supermarkets can't supply the demand, even if it is a lot les than it was right after the programme.
Chickens are not something a farmer will keep for a day longer than he needs to. They sell them on the day they reach eating size, every day they keep them after that eats into their profit.
So maybe the supermarkets don't stock enough FR chicken because the farmers won't take a chance and increase their production.katholicos wrote: »Sometimes, not intending to be demeaning here, but sometimes people do need to see things side by side to enable them to make the choice. I also believe people want clear packaging with no false terminology and imagery.
I'm sure some people do, but I bet Tesco can quote you just how many of their customers only look to see it's a chicken then look at the price. I'm pretty sure ost people don't read the labels.katholicos wrote: »I enjoy shopping with Tesco, i love the points system, but i don't buy chicken from Tesco anymore, and because I purchase chicken elsewhere (Sainsburys for example) I also purchase all my other meat from Sainsburys or wherever too (because i wouldn't go all the way to another supermarket just for a chicken!). So Tesco don't just lose my custom with regard to chicken, but also with all the other meat purchases i would ordinarily make. I'm sure i'm not alone in this.
I'm sure your not, but there are also people heading for Tesco to pick up a couple of chickens for a fiver. I'm sure they too won't go all the way to tesco and just pick up a couple of chickens.
As I said, they will have lost some customers, and gained others. And maybe their computer tells them the extra customers coming in for the chickens are also buying more stuff than the customers that they have lost.
I don't shop at Tesco, well very rarely, but I'm sure they are doing what they know will make them the most money.0 -
The great chicken debate - I think if anyone really give a toss about chickens they wouldn't eat them at all. I love a bit of chicken me.0
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Actually i have to disagree with you there. I 'give a toss' about chickens. I also eat chicken. What's important to me is how they're treated while they're alive.0
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Actually i have to disagree with you there. I 'give a toss' about chickens. I also eat chicken. What's important to me is how they're treated while they're alive.
I agree, it's better to kill a chicken that is happy and full of life than to kill one that is miserable and can't wait for the end to come.
There's something comforting about killing something that is happy. We can sit back and think "At least it had a happy life" and not think about it only being 97 days when the poor thing was expecting to live 3,000 days.
And there's something that just doesn't sit right with us when we put something out of it's misery.
I could never eat a chicken that looked up at the man who was about to snap it's neck and thought "Thanks mate, the sooner I am out of this hell hole the better"
But I love to eat chickens that have looked up at the man who is about to snap their necks and thought "No, don't kill me, I've still got 2,903 days left to live. I've just met a hen and we're going to start a family. Got a nice spot in the corner of the field picked out, just right for raising a family. Please don't kill me today, leave it until tomorrow and give me one night with her, one night of love and the chance to leave a fertilised egg, that's all I ask. Oh, you heartless bastar......."
They always taste better when they've gone that way!
DISCLAIMER: All numbers in this post are fictitious, they are meant to represent the real numbers, not actually BE the real numbers.0 -
geordie_joe wrote: »But I love to eat chickens that have looked up at the man who is about to snap their necks and thought "No, don't kill me, I've still got 2,903 days left to live. I've just met a hen and we're going to start a family. Got a nice spot in the corner of the field picked out, just right for raising a family. Please don't kill me today, leave it until tomorrow and give me one night with her, one night of love and the chance to leave a fertilised egg, that's all I ask. Oh, you heartless bastar......."
:T brilliant - love it! :rotfl:0 -
this chicken debate as been going on for years. if people wanted to buy free range etc., then they would. what is actually going on is that people are buying what they can afford to buy. its alright for the likes of hugh and his like being able to afford £8-9 pounds for a chicken, but unfortunately, there are quite a lot of us who cant and if tesco are selling two for a fiver, then thats what what i, and a lot of other people, will buy.
no matter what people like hugh may say - and keep saying - it wont change.0 -
growingafamily wrote: »For me it's not just welfare, FR/Organic taste so much better - like I remember it tasting when I was little.
This is because they are slower grown. Often they use the same breed of chicken for value (which is the same as standard btw), standard, free-range, and organic. The difference is that regular chickens live 40 days, free-range 55, and organic 70.
Even so, British chickens really lack flavour and have grossly oversized breasts. I prefer guinea fowl or pheasants and other wild birds for any kind of stew or curry.0 -
I have 6 in the house on a normal day and sometimes others come to tea so we could have up to 8 people for dinner, chicken fillets cost a bomb so I always try to buy a whole chicken as they are much cheaper and as I shop in Lidl I get my chickens there. We are on a tight budget. I make chicken go as far as possible and make stock with the bones, but I don't think I could afford chicken if I had to buy free range to feed all our gang. I have already switched to free range eggs so feel I do a little bit. I haven't seen the programme yet, but know it will make me feel more guilty for not being rich enough to afford free range.
Do they absolutely have to eat meat FZ, or could a veggie meal be just as tasty for them? and maybe even cheaper!The more I see of men, the more I love dogs - Madame de Sevigne0 -
BilberryCharlotte wrote: »Do they absolutely have to eat meat FZ, or could a veggie meal be just as tasty for them? and maybe even cheaper!
exactly :beer:0 -
Do they absolutely have to eat meat FZ, or could a veggie meal be just as tasty for them? and maybe even cheaper!
Not everybody wants to become a vegetarian.
Personally, I agree with the Tescos representative - people should not feel guilty for buying value chicken. Some people in this country are trying to live on very low incomes and do the right thing by their families. Obviously, we would love to live in a utopia where everybody could eat organic. Unfortunately, we live in a massively overpopulated island that is totally incapable of producing enough food for the population. This means that land and food are more expensive. Either we cut the population (e.g. no immigration + one child policy) which I very much doubt you'll agree to or we produce food using intensive methods (something else you won't agree to).
Perhaps you actually have a sensible solution to the problem?0
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