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The Truth About Chlorinated Chicken review – Channel 4 doc

Don't know how much better the UK is in terms of welfare.







I don't think anyone is saying the UK is particularly good, but it's a lot better than the US.
 
I don't think anyone is saying the UK is particularly good, but it's a lot better than the US.

A quick Google at US rates of food poisoning is all anyone needs to settle this one.

I doubt having 11 times our rate is all down to methodology differences, as has been claimed.
 
Slightly off topic but sickening.
In the British egg industry it is estimated over 30 million day old male chicks are killed every year. The RSPCA say most are gassed.
tbh the fact many people don't realise this happens is more a reflection of how disconnected many people are from the farming process than anything else. What did you think happened to male chicks? (And going free range doesn't take you outside this process, btw.)

The issue goes far beyond chicken, though. US money is buying up British farming and seeking more and more to impose US-style megafarming on us, meaning intensive farming for chickens, pigs and cattle in increasingly awful conditions.

The growing US presence on British chicken farms has been accompanied by growth in American-style intensive farming. A Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation has found that the number of large intensive farms in Britain has risen by a further 7% in the past three years, despite previous assurances from the government that the UK would not adopt US farming practices.

Half of UK chickens produced by US agriculture giants

A post-Brexit trade deal with the US is only likely to accelerate this process.
 
tbh the fact many people don't realise this happens is more a reflection of how disconnected many people are from the farming process than anything else. What did you think happened to male chicks? (And going free range doesn't take you outside this process, btw.)

The issue goes far beyond chicken, though. US money is buying up British farming and seeking more and more to impose US-style megafarming on us, meaning intensive farming for chickens, pigs and cattle in increasingly awful conditions.



Half of UK chickens produced by US agriculture giants

A post-Brexit trade deal with the US is only likely to accelerate this process.

Yes, I had rather naively thought that it would be OK if the country of origin is clearly marked. The problem goes way deeper then that.
 
I don't think anyone is saying the UK is particularly good, but it's a lot better than the US.

I'd agree its better in some respects, but not to the degree people assume. Chickens are tortured slightly less here and there are some nominal national legal standards (interestingly there was a UK Supreme Court ruling this morning that upheld a conviction against a chicken slaughterhouse for boiling an unstunned chicken to death). The extent to which this legal regime is actually observed and enforced is highly questionable though.
 
Yes, I had rather naively thought that it would be OK if the country of origin is clearly marked. The problem goes way deeper then that.
What worries me is the creeping nature of it. Michael Gove is quoted in that article stating that it won't happen here, but it is happening here, and it takes investigative journalists to reveal it, because much of this stuff is hidden. Ten years ago there weren't any 'feedlot' beef farms in the UK (farms on which the cows are lined up in lots and never go outside). Until very recently, if you were buying British beef, you knew that the animals had spent at least some of their lives grazing in fields. That's not true any more, and it's often not easy at all to find out how the cows have been raised.
 
Not in dairy herds.

There has been a bit of a push recently to promote them as veal but we don't really eat much veal in the UK.
Yep. Ethically speaking, if you eat dairy, you should also eat veal to make the most out of the process, energy-wise.
 
I wonder if performing abortions on cows bearing male calves would be considered more ethical?
I don't think you quite understood the ethics I was talking about above. It was more to do with not wasting energy. There are two parallel ethical concerns regarding farming methods. They're linked, but not always in straightforward ways. One is to do with animal welfare and the other is to do with sustaining the environment.

As for the practicality of what you say above, I very much doubt it would work as it wouldn't get the cows lactating. Would it be possible to induce lactation through hormone treatment without pregnancy at all, is probably a more viable question.
 
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I'd agree its better in some respects, but not to the degree people assume. Chickens are tortured slightly less here and there are some nominal national legal standards (interestingly there was a UK Supreme Court ruling this morning that upheld a conviction against a chicken slaughterhouse for boiling an unstunned chicken to death). The extent to which this legal regime is actually observed and enforced is highly questionable though.

There's some truth in that, but frankly the only animal farming which you would regard as good enough is no animal farming at all, so I don't think there's any point our discussing this any further.
 
Don't know how much better the UK is in terms of welfare.


Generally, we are much better at welfare. They use many drugs in the US that have long since been banned here. The US
approach these things totally differently to us. They use the drugs until proven unsafe, we won't use them until proven safe.
They crate pigs for life, in which the pig can't even turn around in :( We crate pigs, but with more room, for a few months
while pregnant.
Our massive animal factories are getting bigger and spreading, but still not as bad.
In the intensive cattle farms in the US, many millions of cows never even see a blade of grass.
It's not just animals though, they cover their fruit n veg in chemicals banned over here.

I can't really see Tesco's shelves being packed full of fresh chickens air-freighted in from Iowa. Where's this chlorinated chicken going to end up? In kebabs?
Tesco's don't give a toss. I took this up with them years ago and was basically told to go away and not to trouble them with such trivial matters.
 
I really like veal. It's hard to get here. Exported to France and Spain mostly.
Quick sear on both sides, dash of lemon, glass of something from the Loire.

Be great to have it a bit cheaper, sell it here, no overseas transport costs or tariffs.

Lovely
 
I really like veal. It's hard to get here. Exported to France and Spain mostly.
Quick sear on both sides, dash of lemon, glass of something from the Loire.

Be great to have it a bit cheaper, sell it here, no overseas transport costs or tariffs.

Lovely
You can get it in Waitrose. Not cheap, though. I only buy it when it's reduced. And you don't have to worry in the UK about white veal, cos it isn't grown here. I agree that it's very nice. A tasty, lean meat, much like a good horse steak.
 
I thought it was rose veal we had in the UK.

Anyway top celebrity chef leaves tories over this, while her MP son doesnt care :thumbs: :D
I gather this was in the fail which might get other tories thinking
So she was fine with all the other shit the Tories have been going and she voted for Brexit, so what the fuck did she expect?
 
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