I don't want to eat American meat

That must be difficult Charley. We are in a semi rural area and the butcher in the next village buys from farmers.

Can you buy on line?

I always buy meat from a local butcher, free range and British. Most beef from America is from animals who never see daylight, intensively farmed and fed on grain. We need much better labelling on the front of packaged food to state the country of origin.

What's wrong with Halal meat? I've eaten it. It was British bred meat just slaughtered differently and no less 'humanely' than in an ordinary British abattoir.

The problem with American trade deals is that they'll flood the market with very cheap meat which will undercut our farmers until they can no longer compete. British meat will still be available but only to those who can afford it. Once our meat industry is destroyed they'll put the prices up. Most people will have to make the choice between meat from factory farmed animals pumped full of anti biotics and growth hormones and chickens dunked in chlorine or become vegetarian. I never thought anything would make me become a vegetarian because I really like meat but only being able to buy American/non EU regulated meat would make me.

VQ Halal should be killed gently with prayers but this isn’t always the case due to time pressures. It can be quite a messy process. In the UK I believe 85-90% is stunned first now, so you’re right, nothing wrong with Halal. Kosha meat on the other hand I don’t know about as last I heard they didn’t approve of stunning as it marks the beast.

One of the main sticking points with the USA trade agreement as I understand it is the labelling. The U.K. wants to label to say where /how the meat was raised and packaged. The USA wants it labelled so it can come in in bulk and be re-packed here and sold as British. I think this used to happen with Danish bacon being sold as British as our animal standards, even within the EU, are higher than Denmark, Holland and Germany. The Red Tractor stops this.

I've just tonight been and picked up a box of beef from friends who are beef farmers - they do everything bar the actual slaughtering so there are no middlemen involved. I wouldn't want to buy meat which has passed through so many processes and countries before arriving on my plate!

I think some on here are just not "getting" the fact that so many people in the UK buy on price.

We are a very economically divided country.

If meat doesn't come from the fields around me i dont buy it, the only exception is Pork, that comes from 20 miles away as our local alnd is too valuable to put pigs on.
I would like restaurants to tell us on their menu which country their meat comes from, that way i can bycott the ones that use meat from overseas.

I think grannypiper that we need to start asking restaurants , pubs and retailers exactly where the meat comes from In their food and if they can’t tell us then we walk away. It seems as though the labelling is less than accurate.

I buy from a local butcher, sorted.

NotSpaghetti, I understand- Especially now, when food insecurity is expected to triple in number over the course of 2020- Preference has already fallen by the wayside-

I shan't eat it either. I hope it has a big label saying ' from the USA' then I shall take pride in avoiding it. Perhaps we need a petition insisting that if a product has meat from the USA then it does have a huge label with an an American flag on it ? They love their flag don't they? Well , there you go!

This is hardly ‘news’. We were warned about such US Trade Deals (and the NHS) during the last GE but Boris laughed it off and said it ‘wasn’t on the cards’.

And of course the electorate believed him!

And of course the electorate believed him

Well, some of them did...

Enough to get him elected Blinko and some still singing his praises on here!

Of course the politicians who are keen to have American meat here wont actually EAT the stuff - they have the money to buy local organic meat. The other stuff is for the rest of us plebs. And, sadly, some people won't care as long as it's cheap.

If people are scrimping week by week, on zero hours (or low pay) contracts, paying high private rents (no council houses available) then they will buy on price, so if American meat is cheaper, they will buy it. So, yet again, the burden for political failure falls on the poorest in society. They deserve better.

I certainly don't want to eat chicken a la chlorine or beef a la botulism! We had a perfectly good trade deal with the EU...

I am eating less meat, if I can`t buy British, go without, or vegetarian meal

I don`t want to buy anything that is made here,, but very difficult to find so many things

what a mess this country is... certainly don`t want anything from China,,,

That's probably true CarlyD7 - I can't see anyone in the cabinet eating it for instance - unless they are putting on a show like the BSE burgers.

Then don't eat it then. Buy British or become vegetarian....far healthier anyway.

Dont buy it. I read the labels and only buy local meat. It's worth paying the extra. If we dont buy American meat the trade will not succeed.

Country of origin. Is that an EU regulation or a U.K. regulation or a supermarket requirement. Traceability is certainly required for Red Tractor labeling, imported food usually has country of origin. If it is an EU regulation it will get quietly dropped next year, we need to watch for that.

Any imported meat has to comply with disease control regulations, probably not welfare and certainly not environmental standards.

Meat in meat products such as pies doesn't have to be labelled with country of origin.

BTW on the subject of halal meat, I hope people realise that shechita meat (which is killed just as cruelly or even worse) finds its way into mainstream butchers without labelling. Slaughterhouses offload the rear end of carcases because they can't sell it as kosher.

Luckily we have an excellent butcher not too far away. Also a very good Sainsbury's & Waitrose in our town.
The very idea of eating chickens washed in bleach etc. is repugnant.
I read the labels very carefully these days.
I was vegetarian for 15 years way back- stopped when married DH(2) as he is a real carnivore. If it comes to it I will go back to that & he can cook his own but I think we will be fine.

I’m glad I’m vegan so won’t have the dilemma. I’ll carry on buying British fruit and veg or from countries who are mostly trustworthy but definitely not from USA ... nor China!