Buying British Meat

patchwork_cat

With all the media attention that meat can be labelled as British if it was last processed in this country and my increasing desire to eat meat raised to higher welfare standards I have been looking at what is the most cost effective whilst still having higher welfare standards meat.

I am aware that the RSPCA freedom food is number one, then there is the red tractor and Union Flag logo which also means British meat, but what does just the Union Flag mean, with no red tractor.

Asda seem to use just the Union flag and no tractor symbol, but will name that their meat came from Mr Jones' farm in East Anglia for example. Can I be sure that this meat is British (although I know that that doesn't mean high welfare standards by any stretch of the imagination)

If the flag means the same as the Red Tractor why don't Asda use it?

katycocoa

I would love to know more about this too. I always pay extra for 'British pork', but is it just a con? At the moment we have Asda extra special 'British' bacon, with just a flag. It says 'produced' in the UK, but I don't know if that's reared or slaughtered, or just packaged.

Farway

I have always found ASDA meat needs a very close look at label, I suspect they are trying in part to deliberately confuse, as they label the Irish meat clearly, I have found Austrian & all sorts on sale in ASDA, hidden in small print

Oddly enough my local German chain Lidl only sell British meat, as do Morrison's [fresh that is]

For similar reasons as patchwork cat I tend to buy organic beef and at least outside reared pork / poultry.

Debt_Free_Chick

The Union Jack etc labels are explained here

If you want real confidence in the meat you buy, it's worth finding a good butcher locally. My butcher can tell me where the meat was reared, how and by whom; when and where it was slaughtered and for how long it's been hung. Whilst such details may not be important to you, it should give you the confidence to know that you can trust what you're buying.

Which is why I never buy meat in a supermarket.

patchwork_cat

Sorry Debt free I can't find the reference to the union flag other than in assocaiation with QSM on that site, This sounds rather strange, but we have a real dearth of good, competitively priced butchers local to myself. We have butchers, but they are not the butchers of my childhood - very little stock and look quite depressed frankly.

foxgloves

If we don't used the local butcher, we get our meat from the Co-op. I know
Co-op policy can vary a little depending on region, but ours sources its meat from farms within the county and the labelling is pretty good for traceability.....often down to what carcass the joint has come from. We also avoid New Zealand lamb & danish bacon.....not because we don't like it but because all those extra food miles seem ridiculous when British farmers produce great lamb & pork. Also, I understand that the animal welfare standards for pigs are higher in Britain thatn they are in the rest of Europe.

patchwork_cat

Still don't have a definitive answer, despite extensive googling! although I think it porbably does mean it is British meat and not just packaged here, possibly without the higher welfare standards demanded of red tractor?

Did come across though as above that Co-Op have 100% british meat as do Waitrose, Morrisons, M and S. http://lovebritishfood.co.uk/

Debt_Free_Chick

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Sorry Debt free I can't find the reference to the union flag other than in assocaiation with QSM on that site

I guess it depends on the sticker, but my understanding was that the Union Flag was reserved for GB meat raised to the QSM

Kimitatsu

My understanding of the Union Flag was that it was supposed to indicate that the meat had been born and bred in the UK (but that does not mean it has been processed here) however as I also understand it this is not a mandatory scheme and so could be open to abuse.

Currently any meat being born in the EU, then finished off here, slaughtered and processed could be classed as British rather than having to be born bred and slaughtered here. Also having a union flag is no guarantee of the conditions the animals are kept in, I live just down the road from a pig unit that is British meat and would not buy meat from there, but go 5 miles in the opposite direction and the pigs are free range out in the fields and fed my windfall apples - I buy their meat all the time.

floyd

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/redtractor/

patchwork_cat

This isn't the red tractor symbol, but just a Union Flag I have seen it in Asda and Sainsburys. I know that the red tractor symbol means better welfare and British raised.