I don't want to eat American meat

In respect of chlorinated chicken, I understand the chlorinated bit isn't really too much to worry about as the chlorine mix used is apparently swimming pool strength. But, the reason for its use is. The chickens are so poorly treated that the carcasses have to be cleaned in this way - even though it doesn't work and I read that around 25% of people will suffer from salmonella poisoning in any one year. Perhaps one of our US grans can confirm if this is true?

The Agricultural Bill has passed its third reading, meaning that food manufactured to lower standards than British ones can be imported. All to facilitate the US trade deal, of course.

All the Conservatives voted for it, except one. The DUP did too. Labour, Lib Dems and the SNP all voted against it. There was an amendment to keep out stuff like chlorinated chicken, but it didn't get through. Some Tories voted for the amendment but not enough. Rishi Sunak was one but he said he voted the wrong way, because he didn't understand the technology. Hmm... Another one with a backbone of steel.

The UK farmers begged for the bill to be rejected but the Tories didn't listen, even those with big rural constituencies. Beats me why they got the rural vote, given that this bill was always on the cards.

Whose for chlorinated chicken pie and hormone-filled beef burgers? Yummy.

I’ve been trying to cook vegetarian but it’s not going well! I need a lot more practice....So much easier to make a dish tasty with meat. Sigh.

I once picked up a pack of pork chops when shopping in Asda.
When I looked at the label, it said ‘Slaughtered in Germany ‘.
I put them straight back. It put me right of them.
M and S chops are much nicer and british reared.

There are quite a large number of breeding pigs outdoors if you look for them, however very few are fattened outdoors. If they are sold as organic they will be fattened in straw yards, most of the rest will be intensive indoor units.

“Lamb is more expensive” You cannot raise Lamb intensively there are far too many problems, the only time sheep are housed is at lambing time which makes looking after them much easier. Just like Beef, Lamb is expensive because they are ruminants and convert food less efficiently - although they can digest forage which pigs cannot.

There are plenty of highly publicized allegations if poor welfare but few prosecutions, you see far more publicized cases of domestic pets being subject to cruelty. Farms may not be perfect, but they are better than many pet owners.

As others have said I'm very glad that I have no decision to make on eating meat as I am a vegan. I would challenge the idea that UK farms are generally high welfare; mostly they are merely highER welfare when compared with other countries' standards. I think the government/meat industry have been very successful in convincing us that the UK has superb welfare standards. There have been several high profile investigations of UK farms, some of which had been marketed as high welfare and which supplied UK supermarkets (I can provide links if anyone would like to check). The low price of pork plus the fact that there are very few pigs visible in fields is because they are living indoors in factory farms! Lamb is expensive because sheep are far harder to raise intensively! The regulations have phrases like 'as far as is possible' which leave a lot of loopholes e.g. on it being illegal to cause suffering, there is an exception if the suffering was necessary! Once I started to dig, I found that the definition of 'free-range' is very far from what I had imagined; that the RSPCA and Red Tractor symbols were no assurance of high welfare.

The point about using chlorine to was chicken is that it masks bad practices in animal welfare which is why I don't want it. Salad isn't a sentient being .

Kosher methods aren't good either newnanny. At least most Halal in the UK is stunned before the throat slitting. Kosher isn't.

I only buy from local butchers who know the farms where the beasts come from - and interestingly local mums who can't afford much do too. They're very competitive with Tesco prices and the meat is better and often more filling and so goes further.

It's not just meat from the USA which is badly raised. We already import from all around the world from countries with poor husbandry which are approved by the EU trade agreements.

I live in the US. I never buy meat from this country. a disgrace.

Halal methods of killing animals is the worst. Yet children at school are given no option as it is all schools buy to accommodate Muslim children.

At least you are in the minority.

All meat has country of origin on packaging. All in you need to do is look at the packaging. I am in favour of the UK doing a trade deal with USA. If chlorinated chicken comes I don't care. No difference to eating that to eating Spanish salad leaves washed in chlorine. No one will be forcing it down your throat. Having more choice will be good for prices. Just because you don't want to ear it should not mean others cannot choose it if they wish.

I only eat free-range eggs but I would not want to prevent others from choosing to eat eggs from battery hens. Some may not be able to afford free-range.

All animals go through cruelty to reach the plate Chris. The transport and process waiting at abattoirs. Also, you can’t assume you know what you’re getting because it’s British - remember the horse meat scandal a few years ago? The best way to avoid eating meat that you would prefer to avoid, is to give-up eating meat. It’s better for your bowel and it’s better for the environment. People either find they don’t miss it at all, or don’t miss it as much as they think they will!

I am so happy tgat a few vegetarians and vegans have spoken up. I became vegetarian 41 years ago and plant based nearly 2 years ago. I do wonder about those who say as long as animals are well cared for it is ok to eat them. I am wondering where killing cones into 'well cared for'....

If we are going to eat meat then the welfare of the animals is paramount. Too much cheap food, too much cruelty, too many don’t care.

I am going to look more carefully at meat labels from now on. I already check labels to avoid palm oil

ChrisCross.
Then go veggie /vegan. I didn't know what I was missing until going meatless.

The thought of eating any meat makes me feel sick where ever it comes from.

Chriscross. Sorry if I’m wrong. But they don’t feed antibiotics to animals if they are ill or not......
It’s worse they feed them to animals to fatten them up. I’m not sure how it works but mother used to be allergic to the antibiotics that they feed animals and it was banned in this country. You should check it out further. Or basically eat a vegetarian diet.

Antibiotics are widely used by British farmers, particularly for pig farming. You have almost certainly eaten meat from animals fed antibiotics as a matter of course.

Even if they get away with re-labelling meat to hide the country of origin, which I hope is unlikely, we’ll still be able to choose to buy free-range. We usually only have meat once a week now, so can buy free range and/or organic when we do.

I do appreciate that many people don’t have this luxury, so it’s still important that we fight any proposals to flood our market with cheap meat.

Thank the lord I gave been a vegetarian for over 30 years. My vegetables are delivered from local farms. Its a worry though as I don't want any of my friends or family eating any meat or veg that comes from USA

I have been trying for years to get supermarkets to explain why they will not label meat as halal slaughtered but have never had a satisfactory response. Political correctness, perhaps? I have been told by someone in the meat trade that even New Zealand lamb is killed in this way.

Apart from concerns about animal welfare it is not a problem for me as I gave up eating meat years ago. Why not try it? You will certainly notice the reduction in your food bill.

UK free range meat .........or vegetarian?

Another reason to avoid meat from some countries is the amount of antibiotics which are used in intensive farming. Antibiotic overuse increases human antibiotic resistance.