Hi

I am a bit confused about how to really know I am buying meat,poultry fish & eggs that have been well cared for (ie) animal welfare .

In the perfect world I would source organic farms but after looking most of the products are well out of my budget .

Can anyone comment on the Red Tractor logo on meat & poultry ?

I would imagine this is a step in the right direction and a lot better (animals perspective) than buying foreign meat ,poultry and eggs?

Just how well have the red tractor animals been looked after ?

Another logo is the RSPCA Freedom food but a friend told me that it is misleading as is the Red Tractor .


I am Really confused please help and point me in the right direction.

I want to make sure the food in my price range is the best choice with regards the animals welfare.

I was considering buying all my meat and poultry with the Red Tractor as it is reasonably priced but now I am not sure .

What websites ,forums ,magazines ,books can I buy to learn more about making good food choices with regards animal welfare?

Really appreciate any feedback about this .


Rob

Slimbob,

"I am Really confused please help and point me in the right direction."

Suggest you go and read the standards for red tractor for yourself, that way you can judge

http://www.redtractor.org.uk/site/REDT/Templates/GeneralStandards.aspx?pageid=6&cc=GB

Also read the RSPCA freedon food site

http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RSPCA/RSPCARedirect&pg=consumerhomepage

No scheme is as perfect as "grow your own", but as many cannot do this, standards will help you choose from the better end of the market. Some have critised both red tractor and freedom food, but I would choose these any day over something not labelled, and think it is great that you are looking at where your meat comes from, and how your meat is grown.

Also read as much as you can, but do not take everything at face value !!

Wishing you good eating !!

Or better still,buy from a local farm,where you are Welcome to see how the animals are kept and What they eat.

Where abouts are you?

Hi

Thanks for the replies guys much appreciated.

Yes I have been busy reading up on this very interesting.

Sourcing local farms sounds like a good idea . Realise I can google it or use the yellow pages however any advice with regards websites ,governing bodies to help me find good local farms would be a huge assistance .

I live in Waterloo which is in Liverpool (Merseyside) ?

Thank you very much again for your replies and help.

The Red tractor logo barely covers the minimum legal requirements for animal welfare and is worthless an an indicator for welfare standards. I usually go with Freedom Food as a minimum standard: http://www.ciwf.org.uk/your_food/know_your_labels/default.aspx

Saying that, if you have a local butcher who can tell you where the food is sourced from, this is the best option. I rather buy cheaper cuts there than supermarket food of dubious standard.

Foreign doesn't equal bad. Food miles are a concern, but having lived in Germany, Sweden, England and Scotland it makes me laugh that each country seems to be under the impression that their home-produced meat is better than 'foreign' stuff, factory-farmed or not. Except for Angus beef, of course

we have decided this year to only buy what meat we do not produce from likeminded producers the beef we buy comes from a smallholder that shows buyers around his animals just as our lamb supplier.
we produce our own pork and chickens and take great pride in our commitment to our animals and customers are free to visit our animals before they place a order for our pork.
its not always this easy in all areas to be able to do this but if you can you are not only getting the best quality meat but also helping the smaller producers.

I know Eggbirth (I know it is spelt wrong, but can never remember how to spell it) in Liverpool has a farmers market, which I have been too with a friend who lives near there. Not sure how far away you are from there. I believe a small farmers market is held on Hope Street in the city centre too.

Farmers markets tend to be a good source for good food, locally reared and grown, sometimes organically too.

I downloaded the Compassionate Shopping Guide from the Compassion in World Farming website. It enables me to shop with more confidence. This year I am aiming to improve how I shop as at the moment I just use my local farmer's market once a month & top up at Waitrose. I do think that the Shopping Guide will help you to make more informaed choices when shopping.

Im a bit late for this but the red tractor is not a logo depicting UK food it is simply that the logo is allowed on food which reaches correct standards for the red tractor. EU law does not allow red tractor to discriminate against other eu states products.

I may be wrong on this oldspot, but I read somewhere that imported food was unlikely to get the red tractor logo. Anyone, indluding you know any more?

Labeling in this world is a joke think it need a good review the uk stamp you see on food stuffs only relates to the countey in was last cut/processed so a cow from say argentina can be killed sent to the uk to be butchered then sold as good old british beef!!
think this is true but would like to here your feed back on this issue.
also how about a 3 traffic light system for food laberling? Red for min welfare standared eg not red tractor, amber to high quality produce and green foe certifed organic with a code to trace its life?

I think most of us would really like labelling that told the truth. For instance British chicken processed in Taiwan, or Chinese chicken processed in UK. Too much to hope for I suppose, but the producers might like to look on this site and I expect others to find that we don't believe them anymore. A reality check might do them good.

hope so because its only the consumer can change thing its still the same products at the end of the day and prob not effect sales that much its just nice to know where are food comes from and that a basic human right for us all

Red tractor: its a standard, not a symbol of origin. Under EU legislation having the red tractor defined solely as UK origin is just not on within a free market to which all eu countries must be allowed lawful access. Similarly World trade negotiations would be affected if the red tractor interfered with negotiated trading agreements by restricting lawful imports of equal quality/standards.

One can no longer have 'buy british' campaigns within a common market.

We voted it in we have to abide by the rules of the game!!

Government was very clear about this, as was the commission, when the red tractor was mooted by NFU. They didnt like it but had no choice but to agree. Since then they have been allowing the UK public to believe they are buying british when a red tractor appears on food - or rather they do nothing to dispell that notion.

Sorry to contradict you Oldspot but I didn't vote us in.

I'm 45 and have never had a say on the UK's involvement in Europe.

I remember having to learn about the 9 members of the common market whilst at Junior school, the deal was done and dusted by then. Since that time I have never been asked to be involved in any decisions regarding the UK and Europe. All decisions have been made for me by the Government. And some of those decisions have been major ones!

The labelling laws are a joke. The good old british butcher was threatened with the long arm of the law if he used pounds and ounces but was 'allowed' to sell Argentinian beef with a British Flag symbol.

See; Now you've got me started.........

(ps. Only moved over to Ireland last year )