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Origin of meat?

Oonagh123

When you're buying meat from the butchers or the supermarket do you look at the country of origin?

I was in the restaurant and happened to ask where the origin of the chicken on the menu was from (assuming it was Irish) to be told it was from Brazil. Do restaurant have to display this information anywhere?

Today I checked out chicken in a local butchers and the origin was CN. I always assumed the meat from the butchers was Irish.

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Fionn1952

Oasis1974 wrote: »

I think some of Tesco's frozen dinners have the finest Romanian horse meat says on the packaging.

If you're eating Tesco frozen dinners, you should probably be glad if horse meat is the worst you get!

Oasis1974

Fionn1952 wrote: »

Oasis1974 wrote: »

I think some of Tesco's frozen dinners have the finest Romanian horse meat says on the packaging.

If you're eating Tesco frozen dinners, you should probably be glad if horse meat is the worst you get!

I am glad just pointing out it's the finest meat that's all lol.

topper75

In fairness to our subcontinental friends - they know fresh chickens. The are a-clucking and a-fluttering outside the shop in the morning in stacked cages. Empty cages by evening.
"Today's chicken today Mrs. Patel! - none of that 3 day old Irish imported preplucked sh1te".

Boom_Bap

odyssey06 wrote: »

I'm patriotic. I only eat foreign animals myself.

Do you check their passports?

odyssey06

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Do you check their passports?

No I can tell from their accents

Boom_Bap

odyssey06 wrote: »

No I can tell from their accents

You like your steaks rare so.

Buford T. Justice XIX

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Whole chickens, or portions with bone in, are probably home produced. The extra weight makes them less worthwhile to import. But chicken breast fillets will probably be from somewhere like Thailand or Brazil.

Ireland has a huge passion for chicken breast and the country can't supply near enough of them so a huge amount is imported for use here in processed foods and chicken from butchers shops as well.

odyssey06 wrote: »

Netherlands also I think?

The Dutch are a huge clearing house for food products of all types. They import huge quantities of chicken from Brazil and Thailand, as was said earlier, where it is then repackaged for further sale to other markets like ours. Irish bone-in chicken like legs and wings would be routed through the Netherlands as well.

SlowBlowin

Our butcher has a sign up saying whos farm the lamb or beef is from. Its all local.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Deleted User wrote: »

They are safe, until the day a man with a trailer arrives, beats them into it, drives them to a place that stinks of death where they are forced into an abattoir and killed.

I'm calling ballcocks to that.

If you beat an animal before slaughter, the muscle bruises where they were hit, meaning the carcass will be devalued on inspection post slaughter. The skin where the bruises were will be devalued for further sale for leather goods also.

And, even worse, the animal will be stressed when killed and will render the meat tough and dark which further devalues the carcass.

You could at least attempt to stay within sight of reality :rolleyes:

cj maxx

odyssey06 wrote: »

I think there are new labelling rules coming in to cover these scenarios but not until mid-2020.

I'll believe it when it happens.

uck51js9zml2yt

[Deleted User] wrote: »

They are safe, until the day a man with a trailer arrives, beats them into it, drives them to a place that stinks of death where they are forced into an abattoir and killed.

My local abbatoir plays Strauss to them

Saw my father in law kill sheep. Amazingly clean proces and very quiet as they had their throats cut!!

uck51js9zml2yt

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I'm calling ballcocks to that.

If you beat an animal before slaughter, the muscle bruises where they were hit, meaning the carcass will be devalued on inspection post slaughter. The skin where the bruises were will be devalued for further sale for leather goods also.

And, even worse, the animal will be stressed when killed and will render the meat tough and dark which further devalues the carcass.

You could at least attempt to stay within sight of reality :rolleyes:

Since when has boards and reality been used in the same sentence??

Buford T. Justice XIX

Talia Modern Menopause wrote: »

My local abbatoir plays Strauss to them

Saw my father in law kill sheep. Amazingly clean proces and very quiet as they had their throats cut!!

I missed a trip up to one of the beef factories a few years back. They were demonstrating their new handling chute. Minimal fuss and no sight of the previous animal being given to the animal coming up the chute. Based on a Temple Grandin design, apparently. Quick and stress free.

[Deleted User]

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I'm calling ballcocks to that.

If you beat an animal before slaughter, the muscle bruises where they were hit, meaning the carcass will be devalued on inspection post slaughter. The skin where the bruises were will be devalued for further sale for leather goods also.

And, even worse, the animal will be stressed when killed and will render the meat tough and dark which further devalues the carcass.

You could at least attempt to stay within sight of reality :rolleyes:

You are of course right, the animal is 'gently coaxed' by tranquil cow music and a trail of the sweetest scented hay into the metal trailer box. And then, upon arrival at the abattoir, it is petted and steered gently by the shoulder to it's peaceful end.

You've never actually been on a beef farm have you?

[Deleted User]

Oonagh123 wrote: »

When you're buying meat from the butchers or the supermarket do you look at the country of origin?

I try to source my meat as ethically as possible. If I can not hunt it or farm it or kill it myself I go to the butcher and try to pay extra for local and/or relatively happy meat.

But country of origin can be difficult to track. One story a guy off boards told me from Germany was about "German Prawns" which he used to buy. He thought he was buying local.

Technically he was. But what the packaging did not tell him was that the prawns - having been caught in Germany - were driven to Morocco in refrigeration trucks to be shelled by cheap Moroccan labour before it was driven back to germany for packaging.

I have since heard a lot of similar stories. Even local meat can have miles on it you never expected. So sometimes - if carbon miles are your concern - buying foreign meat can have _less_ miles on it than local. Maybe not so much here in Ireland - but more so in other areas of the EU and US.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Deleted User wrote: »

You are of course right, the animal is 'gently coaxed' by tranquil cow music and a trail of the sweetest scented hay into the metal trailer box. And then, upon arrival at the abattoir, it is petted and steered gently by the shoulder to it's peaceful end.

You've never actually been on a beef farm have you?

I wonder which of us has never been on a beef farm, tbh. I'm a dairy, beef and sheep farmer. We kill our own stock at a local butchers every year and I occasionally take a few of my animals to a factory.

I'm also a member of two discussion groups where we take turns to host discussions on each others farms.

I also used fatten both cattle and sheep and took them to slaughter. I worked on farms as an extension officer and also worked in beef factories and completed research on animals in a number of factories.

And, pray tell, how much experience have you of farms? Please note, Youtube videos don't count for this exercise.

[Deleted User]

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I wonder which of us has never been on a beef farm, tbh. I'm a dairy, beef and sheep farmer. We kill our own stock at a local butchers every year and I occasionally take a few of my animals to a factory.

I'm also a member of two discussion groups where we take turns to host discussions on each others farms.

I also used fatten both cattle and sheep and took them to slaughter. I worked on farms as an extension officer and also worked in beef factories and completed research on animals in a number of factories.

And, pray tell, how much experience have you of farms? Please note, Youtube videos don't count for this exercise.

Grew up in the bogs my friend. And are you telling me that in all your years you have not witnessed a beast being 'persuaded' with a stick to get onto a trailer? Perhaps you are the cattle whisperer? What is your farm called - "Heifer Utopia"?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Deleted User wrote: »

Grew up in the bogs my friend. And are you telling me that in all your years you have not witnessed a beast being 'persuaded' with a stick to get onto a trailer? Perhaps you are the cattle whisperer? What is your farm called - "Heifer Utopia"?

I notice you never answered my question about how many farms you have been on, for some reason. Perhaps you could remedy that in your next reply?

And avoiding the question while attempting to discredit the poster is an old and very obvious ploy to use when somebody knows next to nothing about the subject they profess to possess a unique understanding of.

Now, to your question. There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them. A simple swinging gate in the loading area eliminates any problems with loading for us but you may direct your ire at the Dept of Agriculture for use of sticks in loading cattle. I refuse to help them after the first time so I put them in a yard and walk away.

Thanks you for calling the farm Heifer Utopia, you're too kind. We try our best and any praise we get is appreciated especially as the culmination of many decades of work in developing and improving our facilities.

Graces7

Deleted User wrote: »

They are safe, until the day a man with a trailer arrives, beats them into it, drives them to a place that stinks of death where they are forced into an abattoir and killed.

They live in the NOW. And here, green fields and a wide sky and ocean...They are safe from me; never eat beef and handraising orphan twin lambs cured me of ever eating lamb. Love talking to the gentle cows here with their calves.

As others are saying there is no way of killing for food that is not cruel and violent. But we all make choices. Freely. Mine is that way.

Stone Deaf 4evr

meat processing plants are awful, scared, wide eyed animals, stinking of fear and sweat, huddled together for safety, bleating and pleading against their fate.

but once you get beyond the picket line, its quite pleasant.

Graces7

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I notice you never answered my question about how many farms you have been on, for some reason. Perhaps you could remedy that in your next reply?

And avoiding the question while attempting to discredit the poster is an old and very obvious ploy to use when somebody knows next to nothing about the subject they profess to possess a unique understanding of.

Now, to your question. There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them. A simple swinging gate in the loading area eliminates any problems with loading for us but you may direct your ire at the Dept of Agriculture for use of sticks in loading cattle. I refuse to help them after the first time so I put them in a yard and walk away.

Thanks you for calling the farm Heifer Utopia, you're too kind. We try our best and any praise we get is appreciated especially as the culmination of many decades of work in developing and improving our facilities.

At my last rental I reported a farmer for beating his cattle with a big stick for no reason . A neighbour asked me to do that; also he was illtreating in other ways. Serious.

Was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the dept vets who arrived the same day and at the action they took against him . Are not these killing places monitored?

Fionn1952

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

Grew up in the bogs my friend. And are you telling me that in all your years you have not witnessed a beast being 'persuaded' with a stick to get onto a trailer? Perhaps you are the cattle whisperer? What is your farm called - "Heifer Utopia"?

I notice you never answered my question about how many farms you have been on, for some reason. Perhaps you could remedy that in your next reply?

And avoiding the question while attempting to discredit the poster is an old and very obvious ploy to use when somebody knows next to nothing about the subject they profess to possess a unique understanding of.

Now, to your question. There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them. A simple swinging gate in the loading area eliminates any problems with loading for us but you may direct your ire at the Dept of Agriculture for use of sticks in loading cattle. I refuse to help them after the first time so I put them in a yard and walk away.

Thanks you for calling the farm Heifer Utopia, you're too kind. We try our best and any praise we get is appreciated especially as the culmination of many decades of work in developing and improving our facilities.

I dont know the first thing about the day to day of farming, as I've never set foot on a farm in my life (despite having some cattle farmers in the wider family), but I did a few summers work in an abattoir during my college years.

You could tell by the look of the cow what kind of farm they came from. One thing that set the good farmers (who by no coincidence had the best beef) was the way they treated and outright cared about their herd. One in particular comes to mind, who was very clear if there was any word of, 'physical encouragement' towards his cows, it would be very much repaid. Hard as nails old fella, with a heart of gold he was.

Buford, by the sounds of things, sounds like you're producing beef I'd be proud to put on the table.

Muahahaha

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I know somebody who worked in a fast food place and she always said chicken on the bone was Irish and the boneless stuff wasn't.

I'd also look at the vlbutcher you are using. I know some people who refuses to but supermarket meat and the butcher they visit is basically a place where they open packets.

Its mad how little we know about the origin of our meat, even in butchers. If they are using chicken from China they are certainly not telling their customers of it, there is an assumption that it is Irish. Maybe ignorance is bliss or something.

A bit like a few years back during the swine flu epidemic when sales of pork were banned and the likes of Centra were boasting that you could still have a breakfast roll because the sausages and bacon were from Thailand. I think that woke some people up, certainly made me think twice.

LirW

My meat comes from the freezer box Whelan's delivers once a month.
The lovely lady in their office even puts up with my picky extra orders.

uck51js9zml2yt

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I notice you never answered my question about how many farms you have been on, for some reason. Perhaps you could remedy that in your next reply?

And avoiding the question while attempting to discredit the poster is an old and very obvious ploy to use when somebody knows next to nothing about the subject they profess to possess a unique understanding of.

Now, to your question. There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them. A simple swinging gate in the loading area eliminates any problems with loading for us but you may direct your ire at the Dept of Agriculture for use of sticks in loading cattle. I refuse to help them after the first time so I put them in a yard and walk away.

Thanks you for calling the farm Heifer Utopia, you're too kind. We try our best and any praise we get is appreciated especially as the culmination of many decades of work in developing and improving our facilities.

The armchair farmers are great Buford

Buford T. Justice XIX

Fionn1952 wrote: »

I dont know the first thing about the day to day of farming, as I've never set foot on a farm in my life (despite having some cattle farmers in the wider family), but I did a few summers work in an abattoir during my college years.

You could tell by the look of the cow what kind of farm they came from. One thing that set the good farmers (who by no coincidence had the best beef) was the way they treated and outright cared about their herd. One in particular comes to mind, who was very clear if there was any word of, 'physical encouragement' towards his cows, it would be very much repaid. Hard as nails old fella, with a heart of gold he was.

Buford, by the sounds of things, sounds like you're producing beef I'd be proud to put on the table.

Thanks, we try to be as good as possible.

One thing always stands out to me on these threads. If farmers go around beating cattle as much as those try to portray, how are we supposed to handle cattle to do anything.

If I beat my cows before, during and after milking, all I'll have is more sh!te to clean after and less milk which makes no sense at all.

Same with moving or checking stock. I want my cattle to come to me to check them out, not have to travel to the far end of a paddock to count and check them while they're running all over the place.

[Deleted User]

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I notice you never answered my question about how many farms you have been on, for some reason. Perhaps you could remedy that in your next reply?

And avoiding the question while attempting to discredit the poster is an old and very obvious ploy to use when somebody knows next to nothing about the subject they profess to possess a unique understanding of.

Now, to your question. There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them. A simple swinging gate in the loading area eliminates any problems with loading for us but you may direct your ire at the Dept of Agriculture for use of sticks in loading cattle. I refuse to help them after the first time so I put them in a yard and walk away.

Thanks you for calling the farm Heifer Utopia, you're too kind. We try our best and any praise we get is appreciated especially as the culmination of many decades of work in developing and improving our facilities.

How many farms? For a man who has lived in the country all his life that is an absurd question. Who counts? More than 25?

You responded to my original point by saying it is nonsense/ballacks that cattle are beaten into trailers to be taken to the abattoir. You seem to be rolling back on that now and saying that YOU don't beat YOUR cattle. I commend you for that.

[Deleted User]

Talia Modern Menopause wrote: »

The armchair farmers are great Buford

This is like one of those cyclist threads. If you call out a bad cyclist all the other cyclists pile in to defend. There are good farmers and cruel farmers. No one said any different.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Deleted User wrote: »

How many farms? For a man who has lived in the country all his life that is an absurd question. Who counts? More than 25?

You responded to my original point by saying it is nonsense/ballacks that cattle are beaten into trailers to be taken to the abattoir. You seem to be rolling back on that now and saying that YOU don't beat YOUR cattle. I commend you for that.

You appeared to value a presence on beef farms as a defence of your claims which I have quoted below in case you had forgotten.

Deleted User wrote: »

You are of course right, the animal is 'gently coaxed' by tranquil cow music and a trail of the sweetest scented hay into the metal trailer box. And then, upon arrival at the abattoir, it is petted and steered gently by the shoulder to it's peaceful end.

You've never actually been on a beef farm have you?

And you still haven't answered my question on how many farmers you have been on. Is it 25? More? Less?

As I said in my reply to your subsequent post, I have been on hundreds of farms and have never seen any behaviour like you described and implied was common practice. I explained why it isn't widespread or common, as you implied and you proceed to misrepresent my post.

So, how many farms have you been on?

[Deleted User]

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

There probably are farmers using those methods to move cattle but fortunately I have never witnessed them

So you no longer disagree with my initial post. Thanks.

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

You appeared to value a presence on beef farms as a defence of your claims which I have quoted below in case you had forgotten.

And you still haven't answered my question on how many farmers you have been on. Is it 25? More? Less?

As I said in my reply to your subsequent post, I have been on hundreds of farms and have never seen any behaviour like you described and implied was common practice. I explained why it isn't widespread or common, as you implied and you proceed to misrepresent my post.

So, how many farms have you been on?

Why are you obsessed with the number of farms I have been on? Where I grew up and where I now live there are many small farms, so in my years I would have passed through many. I have not counted. I expect more than 20 or 30. Why is it so relevant to you when you have already agreed with my initial point? (Also, I haven't actually been on any farmers, although there is a fine woman up the road who I would certainly not refuse should the offer arise)