Rotten pork

From the BBC. Experts estimate that many EU meat, produce, any goods- will possibly just refuse to export to UK. It is so much more complicated due to crossing Channel, etc, + extra costs for checks, extra staff, low Sterling currency, etc. Much easier to export-import inter EU or beyond.

www.bbc.com/news/business-65199705

Germanshepherdsmum

Actually growstuff I care far more for animals for human beings. I have yet to meet a rude animal.

You have yet to meet my next door neighbours’ Lhasa apso Shep
He is the most miserable so and so

We had a cat that in the end we surrendered to the local shelter ( they don’t put animals down there or I wouldn’t have ) He was the rudest ,most aggressive cat I had met in my life and we had 8 months of hell with him! He was actually a Russian blue and we ended up calling him Putin. Really. I have to admit I actually loved him but he was dangerous and kept sinking his teeth and claws into us for no reason at all. Poor thing had probably been mis-treated somewhere along the line.

Fleurpepper

From the BBC. Experts estimate that many EU meat, produce, any goods- will possibly just refuse to export to UK. It is so much more complicated due to crossing Channel, etc, + extra costs for checks, extra staff, low Sterling currency, etc. Much easier to export-import inter EU or beyond.

www.bbc.com/news/business-65199705

Regular importers will have extra costs and inspections, that will have to go on the price, in the same way that our exporters have to handle regulations. For the occasional importer it will be a problem and cause delays, I don’t see shortages due to paperwork and it may give our own producers the opportunity expand production.

nanna8

We had a cat that in the end we surrendered to the local shelter ( they don’t put animals down there or I wouldn’t have ) He was the rudest ,most aggressive cat I had met in my life and we had 8 months of hell with him! He was actually a Russian blue and we ended up calling him Putin. Really. I have to admit I actually loved him but he was dangerous and kept sinking his teeth and claws into us for no reason at all. Poor thing had probably been mis-treated somewhere along the line.

Much kinder to pts than to condemn to a life of misery.

growstuff

Norah

Germanshepherdsmum

Don’t you care for the welfare of the animals which produce the meat you eat, or do you only care that the meat is safe to eat?

Good question.

Decent animal treatment? Safe procedures and policies?

How about the quality of the protein itself?

Sustainable farming? Lower carbon footprint farming? Stewardship of the Earth's reasources?

My husband works on sustainability, less land erosion, land quality, water use - all parts to agro-engineering. Animals and plants must coexist.

What's that got to do with rotten pork?

If you're worried about pork purchase UK farm raised pork from a butcher. Lavenham Butchers cut high quality UK pork. I'm sure there are others. We bought the lamb for our daughters and families Easter dinner (with us) locally, selected it off the field. They tagged it, we picked it up when it was ready.

The point of Pasture for Life is that the pasture is unimproved, Katie59. As to emissions, read this www.pastureforlife.org/research/new-beef-systems-research-includes-soil-carbon-measurements-for-first-time/
www.greenbiz.com/article/how-regenerative-land-and-livestock-management-practices-can-sequester-carbon

As for such meat being expensive, the solution is to eat less. I have reduced average portions size and we eat meat a little less frequently. The price per meal is then competitive with anything you can buy in the supermarket.

I agree not everyone can get to farm shops, but everyone seems to be quite at ease ordering their weekly shop online from their local supermarket. Top quality meat can be bought just as easily using the same method.

One of the problem I have with veganism is how anyone with food allergies can follow it and have variety and choice in their eating patterns.

Following diagnosis with an autoimmune disease my DDiL has become allergic to nuts, soya and fresh fruit. Now nuts and soya seem to be at the core of variety in a vegan diet. Soya is used in so many prepared foods and nuts feature in so many recipes and both are good sources of protein. Of course these allergies do not preclude a vegan diet, but they do limit the variety and range of food you can eat and I think it would be dull and monotonous.

Sequester Carbon, new buzz words, there is no doubt that grassland and livestock increase the organic matter in soil and there is nothing new in that. Cultivation of land for crop production releases carbon so the logical solution is to increase animal production, the problem is that animal production is often not profitable and always hard work.

I know threads meander- but ...

Fact is the vast majority of the population cannot or will not afford meat sourced locally and sold by excellent butcher down the road. And a large amount will be in pre-prepared meals, sausages, burgers, etc.

Fact is, we have NO idea what is coming into the UK and getting into the food chain at the moment. And it has just been announced that Government does not intend to implement full and proper checks later this year, or at all.

Sheer madness, and VERY VERY dangerous. One major outbreak of swine fever or other imported disease, and we will all be in big trouble, and the farming sector finally done for.

If ‘the vast majority’ aren’t buying from the excellent butcher down the road selling local meat, how is he still in business? We have two butchers in our small market town and a proper in-store butchery. Always busy.

Germanshepherdsmum

If ‘the vast majority’ aren’t buying from the excellent butcher down the road selling local meat, how is he still in business? We have two butchers in our small market town and a proper in-store butchery. Always busy.

Two butchers in a small market town is all you need to know to understand that the vast majority are not buying meat from the local butchers.

I really don't understand the relevance of this. We have two butchers in town too. We also have three supermarkets whose aisles have many times more meat than the butchers do. Some people obviously do want to buy their meat from small butchers, but the majority don't.

However, it doesn't matter where people buy their meat. The fact is it's sold as food and should be fit for consumption with no risk of contamination.

I don’t understand what you mean wwm, when I say small town I mean exactly that and two butchers shops and an in store butchery, all always busy. That doesn’t indicate that ‘the vast majority’ are not buying from them.

We only have one in our large town and he’s struggling, we also have a couple of garden centers with meat counters that “pile it high, sell it cheap”.

Guess which makes money

Whitewavemark2

Germanshepherdsmum

If ‘the vast majority’ aren’t buying from the excellent butcher down the road selling local meat, how is he still in business? We have two butchers in our small market town and a proper in-store butchery. Always busy.

Two butchers in a small market town is all you need to know to understand that the vast majority are not buying meat from the local butchers.

I'm not sure you've selected the correct metrics.

Germanshepherdsmum

If ‘the vast majority’ aren’t buying from the excellent butcher down the road selling local meat, how is he still in business? We have two butchers in our small market town and a proper in-store butchery. Always busy.

I am surprised you are asking, really. Just because your butcher's is busy, doesn't mean most are buying from him. Honestly ?!?

Fleurpepper

Germanshepherdsmum

If ‘the vast majority’ aren’t buying from the excellent butcher down the road selling local meat, how is he still in business? We have two butchers in our small market town and a proper in-store butchery. Always busy.

I am surprised you are asking, really. Just because your butcher's is busy, doesn't mean most are buying from him. Honestly ?!?

The butchers we use are incredibly busy, one must make an appointment to discuss needs properly. We needed a lamb for Easter, it was selected and ordered well before we drove to the butcher to purchase.

Two busy butcher’s shops, a busy butchery department, a small place - not to mention a farm shop close by. I didn’t say most were buying from them but you said most weren’t. Such a sweeping statement.

Correction - you said ‘the vast majority’ - even more of a sweeping statement.

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t understand what you mean wwm, when I say small town I mean exactly that and two butchers shops and an in store butchery, all always busy. That doesn’t indicate that ‘the vast majority’ are not buying from them.

Just Two butchers serving a small town is not sufficient if the majority are buying their meat from a butchers.

TBH I think you know that the majority of people buy their meat from supermarkets - of course they do, ask any farmer.

And logic says so.

Mind you dancing on a pin springs to mind here. I must go and get ready to go out to a barbecue - not sure of the source of the meat though😄. Will need to wrap up🥶

Well, hopefully all of them, including any cafes and service stations selling ham sandwiches, are selling uncontaminated meat. That's the point - not whether the meat comes ready minced in supermarket plastic or delivered after being jointed by a personal butcher. All meat should be safe for consumption.

Germanshepherdsmum

Correction - you said ‘the vast majority’ - even more of a sweeping statement.

Well I do not have statitistics- but I stand by this statement, overall, for the UK.

Over the last 25 years, the number of independent butchers in the UK has reduced by 60% to approximately 6,000 (Office for National Statistics), largely due to the increasing influence of large supermarket chains.

My agro-engineer tells me, numbers to butcher shops, family farms, and farm shops decline in direct correlation to better sustainable practices and consolidation. Could be wrong, of course.