bird flu hits bernard mathews turkeys...what do you think?

Meanymoo

pigpen wrote:

It is completely out of most peoples price range to afford free-range meat or vegetables and certainly organic as well.. so to say this is all people should eat is pretty crap.. there would be a lot of people starving to death. I heard it is meant to be tastier.. but have NEVER been able to afford any.

It's perfectly possible to eat a good balanced diet without eating this kind of meat. To say people would starve to death is somewhat ridiculous - how do you think vegetarians stay alive? I am not vegetarian, but I only eat meat whose origins I am happy with. This means that once in a while when I can afford it I buy some organic meat from my local farm, or buy meat from the RealMeat company who are big on animal welfare. Yes, it's expensive, but why on earth should we have meat at every meal? I choose not to turn a blind eye to the farming practices of the majority of meat suppliers in the country, and my health is certainly not suffering for it.

Justie

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

also bernard mathews thought they could cover up their imports of turkey.........but slowly the truth is coming out.......very reluctantly......

I don't know that it's quite at the conspiracy stage yet - there is still no proof that this is how the avian flu was spread and I've still yet to understand how it got from the production side to the bird side if it was.

I do think that the whole intesive farming thing didn't help though...

and to pigpen I'm with Meanymoo here, I try not buy any meat except organic and that means that I buy very little of it but still have a varied diet. If I had a larger family I'd be able to get an organic chicken for little more tan the price I pay for organic chicken breasts and make the meat last even longer but it'd be a waste right now so I buy the more expensive portions but use 2 breasts in 3-4 portions of food. I wouldn't want chicken every day anyway and as it's the only meat I tend to eat I get the rest of my protein elsewhere.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Justie wrote:

I don't know that it's quite at the conspiracy stage yet - there is still no proof that this is how the avian flu was spread and I've still yet to understand how it got from the production side to the bird side if it was.

I do think that the whole intesive farming thing didn't help though...

i know with the bse.... it was the fact that they were using animal by products in the feed.....whic suposed to be banned now

and i have also heard that poultry carcasses etc... have been crushed and added to the feed........

maybe this is still going on in intensive units..... to save on feeding costs and to get rid of waste........

as you say how could it get from the production line to the sheds...... and it wasnt just one shed either.....

i have worked in a few food factories.....an it doesnt suprise me with the things that companies do to amke more money.....i bet you the workers at bm... dont eat their products... even if they had them for free....

competitionscafe

Justie wrote:

I try not buy any meat except organic and that means that I buy very little of it but still have a varied diet. If I had a larger family I'd be able to get an organic chicken for little more tan the price I pay for organic chicken breasts and make the meat last even longer but it'd be a waste right now so I buy the more expensive portions but use 2 breasts in 3-4 portions of food. I wouldn't want chicken every day anyway and as it's the only meat I tend to eat I get the rest of my protein elsewhere.

Breasts are a very expensive way of buying chicken though - if you get thighs, which are much cheaper, you will save £££. I think thighs are much more tasty too and you can buy them boned (more expensive) or on the bone. I think they taste better cooked on the bone, but you can bone them quite easily with a sharp knife for recipes where you want boneless meat.

The other alternative is to buy a whole chicken - as you say it's only a little bit more than buying the breasts on their own, so you are getting 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings and a carcasss for stock/soup for almost nothing. You can cook a whole chicken and then make that last for 3 meals and/or freeze some or you can joint the raw bird and use some and freeze the rest for later.

I mostly cook for one and if I get a smaller whole chicken I can get at least 3 meals - a roast, sandwiches, risotto/pasta etc + stock from the carcass and if I don't fancy eating chicken 3 or 4 days in a row I just take the meat off the bones on the day I have cooked the chook and freeze the meat and carcass seperately.

dillydilly

I've still got some Turkey Foil from Christmas left over - do you think i should throw it out ? :rotfl:

competitionscafe

kittie wrote:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=31FWD1GQT235JQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/11/nflu111.xml

more food for thought / what they can get away with / we are gullible and they treat us as fools

Interesting article - thanks for sharing.

In the latest newsletter from Discover the Taste ( http://www.discoverthetaste.com ) there was the following snippet:

<"Now Aberdeen Angus has to be labelled with its country of origin - hopefully Scottish

Catering establishments will have to tell customers which country their beef comes from. The requirement to provide better information to consumers will apply to restaurants, pubs, cafes, hotels and other food outlets in Scotland.

Food Minister Ross Finnie said "Scotland is world renowned for its beef. With consumers having an increasing interest in where their food comes from, many are frankly staggered to find out that Aberdeen Angus beef can come from South America.">
http://www.scottishfoodanddrink.com/view_item.aspx?item_id=49999

johnjp

I am a vegetarian for practical reasons.
It takes up to eight times more energy to produce meat.
Generally plant proteins provide more and are very low in fat.
Alot of processed meat products contain quite high quantities of plant proteins, so many meat eaters are more vegetarian than they may think. Also processed meat products contain high quantities of rendered meat, that is non muscle derivatives e.g. beaks, nostrils, anus`, connective tissue, minced bone, organs (except neural tissue since BSE!) etc. So that turkey sausage is unlikely to contain much, if any, turkey muscle meat. That sausage roll, pork pie, meat pie, shepherds pie, chicken tikka etc, usually doesn`t have any muscle meat and it`s those types of foods that are most popular now. Also they may have high levels of saturated fats, like hydrogenated fats, and benzoated salts added to give them taste.

grannybroon

I took part in this forum early days. I totally avoid processed meat aka Bernard Mathews. Why do they have to import meat from abroad - I am totally astounded. I am probably repeating what you have already said. I wouldn't touch their products with a barge pole but do confess when kids were wee some 19-20 years ago we did do his turkey drummers from time to time.

I will still buy turkey products but fresh and not BM!

GB

mah_jong

I have not bought any BM products for years. I cook from scratch ....how ever I did buy the drummers a few years ago when the kids were wee....this stopped after a pals youngster got food poisoning, not BMs fault in any way, she had not cooked them long enough BUT it all helped wth my life changes (sounds so .... the word escapes me) BUT it helped me realize years ago, that this was not progress but a step back! This was the closest I ever got to TV dinners, chilled products and ready meals!!!!

As for this case .....am pretty shocked about the Hungarian imports and that it continued after birds were dying.

IMHO bird flu will happen here...who can control wild birds ??

COOLTRIKERCHICK

[QUOTE=grannybroon

I will still buy turkey products but fresh and not BM!

GB[/QUOTE]

what the problem is firms like BM... not only have they got their own brnaded food.. they will prob.. supply supermarkets with their store brand foods as well....

plus the stores fresh turkey........

as most factories these days... make products/foods for various brands......including supermarket's own labels...

i must admit i was socked that they were allowed to still import from hungary.. and 24 hours after being disinfected... to carry on with production...... i am sure with the foot and mouth.... they had a lot longer to wait before they could have life stock again.... or is there a diff rull for food in the food chain...