What is more important to you - cheap food or high welfare standards?

[Scrowy]

There has been news coverage today that the US has said that to enable trade relations the UK may have to consider lowering some food standards (chlorinated chicken, growth hormones etc).

As a beef and sheep farmer I'm genuinely interested to know if the British public really cares about animal welfare standards or if the reality is that money is tight and as long as it's meat people aren't actually too choosy about it's origins if the price is right?

Please don't pander to me, please be honest. If the truth is that you would like to think you would choose high welfare but when it comes down to it at the supermarket shelf you choose the cheaper option... just say.

Definitely not happy about being forced into taking American standards. Especially with their use of anti biotics

High welfare.
I don't buy meat that often (had some for xmas) and only buy Duchy organic free range when I do. I can't find any other range that seems to be high standard. Our butchers didn't sell organic meat when I asked.
The dc's will probably eat more veggie stuff at school if meat standards are lowered. They're already pretty good about keeping balance with meat and veggie meals as it is.

We’ve also started buying ‘local wine’ - specifically Lyme Bay Winery , it’s relatively expensive £9 - £10 a bottle for the cheaper one up to £20 for a more expensive. We now limit ourselves to 1 bottle a week, generally on a Saturday night. It seemed really stingy at first but now we really enjoy our weekly bottle and know we’re supporting the local economy. (Better for health too)
We buy all our meat from a local butcher - named farms for where it has all come from, or direct from the farm.
Food particularly meat has been too cheap for too long and to implement the higher welfare standards and give farmers a fair price for their meat we need to pay a bit more. Proportionally food used to be nearly 40% of a families budget in the 1950/60’s now its often less than 10% with people prioritising clothes, tech, toys etc . I know that’s a sweeping generalisation but I’m sure a lot of people today on here buy things when they want them and more importantly can afford to whereas 30/40years ago they would have had to save first sometimes for many months.

We buy most of our meat from Aldi, its nearly all British or Irish with assured standards.

I think for a lot of people it comes down to cost. I remember a TV show with Hugh F-W where he was trying to get people to eat organic, free range chickens. There was a woman on it who was on a low income (I think) and showed her in the supermarket buying a bog standard £3 chicken and HFW asked her why she wasn't buying an £8organic one. Hello, cos its too expensive!

I'm sure more people would buy ethically sourced meat if their finances allowed it.

We buy the best that we can afford at the time. We are low income though, so sadly, that usually means lower standards. When we are feeling a bit flush, we buy better though.

@Scrowy with regards to your question about using offcuts and stuff if it was more available - absolutely yes. We don't have a butchers within a decent distance here so have no choice but to go to supermarket and if those sort of things were available at a supermarket, I would buy

Welfare standards and I'm prepared to switch to mostly vegetarian and only buy organic from the local butchers if standards are lowered. I'm giving up dairy now anyway.

Welfare. I'd rather have less meat and not chlorinated chicken or growth hormone beef any day of the week

Welfare, but only because I am concerned about the effect of cheap meat on my body/my family’s.

Like others I tend to buy/make more vegetarian meals or meals with a tiny amount of meat. But I also eat at McDonalds weekly, so a bit of hypocrisy there.

Welfare and British.

In the freezer I have pork and lamb from two smallholders and our beef comes from a local butcher - we know the farm the beef comes from.

The one I haven't cracked yet is chicken. I would love to find a smallholder who supplied chicken but not managed it yet.

I would argue that whilst it's slightly more effort, we probably don't pay much more for our meat than we would from a supermarket.

What I can afford while I trust current UK standards of welfare. When we leave the EU , if our meat processing standards drop, I would avoid, change my diet and occasionally have meat I can trust.

High welfare standards and always British. Standards in many other countries are disgusting.

I don't eat meat so have very strong opinions on animal welfare. My partner and children do.

It's a mix of both for me, but probably convenience & ignorance overrides then both. I do an online shop fortnightly and I suppose just presume the meat from there - as long as I don't go down the 'value' route - is ok, welfare wise. I presume (but don't know) that meat from the local butcher is higher welfare. I shop there when I remember. The meat is nicer, and I tend to use less as I only buy what I need, and is no more expensive. However, getting to my high street, and remembering to buy meat, is a rarity.

We are in general eating less meat than we used to though. I make sure at least a third of meals are veggie, a third fish and the remainder split chicken & beef / pork.

McDonalds actually have surpringly high welfare standards. You are probably better getting lunch there than getting a Tesco chicken and bacon sandwich for example.

Those giving up dairy - can I ask if you are just giving up milk/cheese etc or whether you will be giving up all products with milk in any form in, e.g stuff with powdered milk that's hidden in lots of things like biscuits, and crisp flavourings.

I said this earlier in the thread as well but it's worth repeating for those that want to eat higher welfare but can't afford organic, you can be fairly certain with British produced beef and lamb that what you are eating is high welfare, free range and grass fed. Buying organic beef and lamb probably isn't necessary if that's the standard level you want.

Where I would always try and buy organic and free range if available is pork and poultry. In those industries I feel it does make a difference.

It would be wonderful if real life reflected mumsnet

Animal welfare.

I buy pork, beef and lamb from people I know locally and who send their beasts to the local attoir. Not easyI know, but there is one for smallholders about a 15 min drive from here
We buy poultry and game (wild boar, rabbit and venison etc.) from a chap at our farmers market.

For us meat is a treat anyway, but I wouldn't eat it if it wasn't raised properly.
Pigs are amazing. Did you know that left to themselves to wander about the sows build nests to have their piglets in?
Pig nests are something else.
When they're reared in sheds, they have to give birth on concrete and are often tethered, with a few whisps of straw thrown down. That's horrible.

I think it varies. I don't tend to think about it so buy on what 'looks' nice so I guess neither cost nor welfare comes into what I choose.

Haven’t RTFT yet so apologies if this has already been posted.
The UK is below the EU already for food prices, so we have the benefit of cheap food and high standards. Why on earth would we compromise this?
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Comparative_price_levels_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco#Price_levels_for_food.2C_beverages_and_tobacco

Honestly probably a mix of both?
I do go to the butchers when i can time doesnt make that easy sadly when i only have Saturday morning and if im not there for 10am theres no point going.
Im not exactly on a food budget - just dh and i at home but im not exactly making it rain so i do buy aldi sometimes and asda and tesco and morrisons.
So yeah a mix of the two!

Welfare much more important to me

Welfare, but we are 95% Veggie and making more and more vegan choices where we can. Switched to oat milk and vegan spread. Cheese is the last frontier we're struggling with. We have enough disposable income to allow us to do this though.

On the very few occasions I eat meat it's at a high end restaurant where they can vouch for the provenance of it.

Any of Env. impact, nutritional value & Flavour trump price for me. I want to stick local production in the list, too, but reality is that the price point has put me off many times before. I try to buy from local butcher but DH can't be arsed. Welfare is complicated issue, b/c everyone measures it in different ways. I prefer free-range but not at any price, don't worry about other welfare issues much.

DH does most the meat buying in our house & he's price led, mostly, but quality & env. impact too. He's dabbling in fake meats right now, anyway, ones that compete on price & flavour.

I wouldn’t eat US produced chicken.

It is a balance between welfare and cost for me. I shop at a butchers with his own farm, everything is produced within ten miles or at booths which sell stuff reared with good welfare methods. I can do this because we don’t eat meat every day, I would struggle to justify the cost if we did.

Can OP or anyone else explain their objection to chlorine washed chicken? We have chlorine washed drinking water in the UK, so what is the problem with chlorine washed chicken?

Scrowy I always look to see where the ingredients of sandwiches in the supermarket lunch section have come from and never buy anything with meat in it because it has come from Thailand or some other far flung place with dodgy welfare standards.

Good question, I think I know answer, Bats.

The chickens have to be washed because of low hygiene (welfare) standards in how they are raised, housed & slaughtered. The chlorine wash is required to remove contamination.

Better welfare/production standards remove the need to give the carcasses that final wash.

that is argument. I don't know science of how the risks pan out. It's not like UK chicken carcasses are guaranteed free of campylobacter & salmonella. So maybe the US approach leads 2 lower foodborne risks (from people not cooking properly, which happens inevitably).