Ethically sourced meat

redlady_1

Now I am having a bit of a crisis at the moment. I have been hearing and reading about various methods of killing animals and I am not impressed. And whilst I have no desire to turn fully veggie, I do want to cut back on meat and ensure what I do buy has had a good life and ending.

I am therefore trying to source some ethical meat and wondered whether you have any tips please. Lets face it, you dont really know how an animal has lived in its final six weeks/been dispatched even when you buy meat from a butcher.

Does this mean organic meat has a higher welfare? Free range? How can you truely tell?

elsien

If you have the money, I'd go for meat from a trusted local butcher that's free range or outdoor reared, as regardless of the labels I think there's ways round most things and the labels don't tell the whole story.

If you're skint like I am, I do buy free range chicken (I'd rather do without than have the intensively farmed stuff) and I make sure that any meat has the assured British meat standard on it. Not great, but at least you know it has some sort of provenance, unlike the value or unlabelled pile it high and sell it cheap stuff.

redlady_1

So you would still say butcher? What about organic? Does that mean it has just been fed certain grains or does it mean it has to be dispatched in a certain way? Its the end bit that is causing me an issue.

I dont have a problem with the cost, just the ethics behind the meat.

zcrat41

Red Tractor Red Tractor Red Tractor Red Tractor.

I can't emphasize this enough. Its a symbol used to show that the meat has been reared in the UK to UK welfare standards that are one of the highest in the world.

Organic means it has been reared without certain growth promotors/food grown with the use of chemicals etc but don't think that means it's perfect - farmers are still allowed to use certain chemicals at certain times of the year for certain things.

Stick as local as you can - UK at worst, local butcher at best.

As a farmer, the only supermarkets I rate are Waitrose, Aldi and Sainsbury's but thats because they pay me a decent amount of money for my product. To be fair, all supermarket meat that is UK produced is going to be pretty high welfare standards.

Bella56

We get our meat from Waitrose, as they seem to have high standards for animal ethics. I emailed them about their organic chickens and they are the same as free range (free to roam in daytime, in coops at night) but have organic feed, which I'm not hugely bothered by.

Have you seen Our Daily Bread? Shocking!!! :eek: Def. not for the faint of heart, and will put most people off of cheap, East European meat.

Mrs_Chip

Try to find a Q Guild butcher, they have high standards in terms of quality of meat, and some have their own slaughterhouses and are able to ensure that the dispatch is as humane as possible.

The less stress an animal suffers on it's last journey the better the meat is (stress hormones can taint meat), but we should all respect the animal enough to want its end to be as good as it can be iyswim.

Riverford do meat boxes, they will tell you what the provenace of the meat is if you ask. Look online for other meat suppliers that source their meat ethically, or home kill and supply from their own farm.

Organic will mean no unapproved drugs or growth promoters, as can well as certain levels of welfare standards, but you could find a supplier that is not organic with similar standards.

Mojisola

zcrat41 wrote: »

Organic means it has been reared without certain growth promotors/food grown with the use of chemicals etc but don't think that means it's perfect - farmers are still allowed to use certain chemicals at certain times of the year for certain things.

All growth promotors are banned in Europe for all farmers, organic or otherwise.

Exactly what chemicals are organic farmers allowed?

Sagz_2

I haven't eaten meat for around 15 years because of the way animals are treated before being killed. If I could find a pig / lamb / cow / chicken that had led a happy life and was killed on the farm it was raised on with the least amount of stress I'd be the first in line at the buffet!

At the moment roadkill looks like my best option.... just need a car big enough

Mrs_Chip

See here for permitted drug use under organic standards.

redlady_1

Thats what I am talking about Mrs Chip. Its the stress at dispatch that I want to avoid. I would love to find a farm/shop/anything that kills its own meat. Will certainly have a look for a Q Guild butcher. That is what I wanted to know.

It is just a total minefield and whilst I am not fussed about organic I dont want an animal that has totally freaked out when put on the lorry because it can smell blood and then gets so stressed waiting for the end. It is the final journey which is beginning to play on my mind.

I have been looking at Riverford and they are dear but if they have the right ethics then that is ok by me. Waitrose is the other place I thought about and have bought free range meat from there.

I started thinking about this when I went off normal chicken and then was persuaded to have a free range corn fed one. I was shocked at the difference in tast. However, recently on another forum there has been a big discussion about meat, the dispatch thereof and various religious ways of killing said animal and whether it enhances the meat. All that chat got me thinking again.

I would rather eat less meat but good quality.

meritaten

I am not sure that many farms are 'allowed' to butcher thier own animals. I could be wrong, probably am - but I AM under the impression that the er 'dispatch' of the animal has to be done under strictly controlled conditions.
Saying that, I am sure that on one of Ade Edmundsons progs he visited a farm with its own butchers shop. you need to do some googling!