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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it should be clearer?

101 replies

xkatie27x · 13/05/2017 17:30

So I only eat British meat - I wouldn't be rude enough to refuse to eat a meal if it was made with non British meat, but I personally would only buy British meat. Reasons include I want to support our farmers, i think it's better quality and I just don't want to buy something that's been imported when I could get it from mr farmer down the road etc. I also prefer to shop local if I can help it so boyfriend and I decided to try the butchers down the road (normally I'll get meat from greatbritishmeatcompany). He went in the day before to have a look and specifically asked the butchers where their chicken was from and he said Dorset. We went in today and bought 5kg for £25 as that was the advertised deal. Got home and checked the pack which said slaughtered and packaged in Poland.

AIBU to assume that all the chicken was from the UK? I never thought that the meat in the deal might have been from elsewhere. I've still supported a local business so will eat it on this occasion but should I mention something to them? its definitely not as good quality as what I would normally get and only a few £ cheaper!

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 14/05/2017 13:54

The Daily Mail are going to love this. They can call Mumsnetters thick-imagine the comments bit.

user1493022461 · 14/05/2017 13:55

The butcher didn't tell the truth, it's not British meat if it was transported to and killed in Poland. Which in itself is extremely unlikely

Basic logic fail. IF the chicken was born and reared in Dorset, and shipped to Poland for slaughtering and packaging, of course it is British meat. It didn't do a citizenship test in Polish on the way to get its neck wrung, did it?

FFS.

Sparklingbrook · 14/05/2017 13:56

Won't someone please ring the butcher? We need to know.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 14/05/2017 13:56

WTAF?

HighwayDragon1 · 14/05/2017 14:00

For meat to be called British on the packaging the whole process has to take place in Britain ie it has to be reared, slaughtered and packaged in Britain, if any part of that process doesn't happen in Britain then it can't be classed as British meat.

Obviously one would assume that Dorset chicken is British chicken, because Dorset is in Britain.

Babbaganush · 14/05/2017 14:01

Was the butcher asked where the whole chickens were from and you purchased a different pack of chicken presuming than it was also from Dorset?

user1493022461 · 14/05/2017 14:06

For meat to be called British on the packaging the whole process has to take place in Britain ie it has to be reared, slaughtered and packaged in Britain, if any part of that process doesn't happen in Britain then it can't be classed as British meat

Unless you think the Butcher in this story was some kind of hologram talking to OP from the packaging, what has that got to do with the price of chicken?

AliceByTheMoon · 14/05/2017 14:08

May be the butcher was being quite literal- the company importing the chicken are in Dorset.

I am spending way too much time puzzling over this, and people's responses, but actually the whole thread points to a much wider and concerning issue about the provenance of our food.

Styturnip · 14/05/2017 14:11

This thread is unexpectedly hilarious 😂

LedaP · 14/05/2017 14:18

The chicken could have been born and/or bred in dorset but sent to poland for slaughter

Therefore the chicken is from dorset.

Chickens can also be born and bred in another country then brought here slaughtered and labelled as British.

Op you/BF need to be more clear about what you mean. You want meat that is born raised and slaughtered in Britain.

I am irish and live in england. If someone asks where i am from i say 'Ireland' but that doesnt mean i live there. If people ask where i live i say 'england', again doesnt mean thats where i am from.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 14/05/2017 14:18

The daily mail have already done this story

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2485553/How-Polish-chicken-sold-British--month-UK.html

Donning flameproof suit, but I think the real issue is the exceptionally poor treatment of animals.

pigsDOfly · 14/05/2017 14:21

I'm with Alice. Sounds to me as if the chickens were born and slaughtered in Poland, shipped to a company in Dorset, from whom the farmer bought the chickens: hence as far as the farmer's concerned the chickens are from Dorset.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 14/05/2017 14:22

And geography Alice. That's appears to also be a wider and concerning issue.

That and an inability to manage basic reading comprehension in a few notable cases.

Reading this thread I feel like a freaking genius.

QuestionableMouse · 14/05/2017 14:25

Have you cancelled the cheque, op?

pigsDOfly · 14/05/2017 14:25

*That should be butcher, not farmer.

AliceByTheMoon · 14/05/2017 14:25

Indeed the issue of how the animals we use for meat are treated is very concerning indeed.

DH keeps on about us going vegan (again) full time. It's issues like these that make me realise that he has a point.

WayfaringStranger · 14/05/2017 14:26

So is the chicken British or not?! Wink

thenewaveragebear1983 · 14/05/2017 14:28

This kind of hilarity just won't be possible after Brexit

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 14/05/2017 14:29

Has anyone asked the chicken?

HarrietSchulenberg · 14/05/2017 14:29

Time to find a more local butcher. Buy the meat fresh from the counter, not pre-packaged, and ask about its origin. A half-decent butcher will be able to tell you where the animal was reared and slaughtered and if he/she can't do that then they are just meat merchants and best to avoid.

keeplooking · 14/05/2017 14:30

Can anyone say definitively whether or not chickens from Britain are ever sent to Poland/another country to be slaughtered?

AliceByTheMoon · 14/05/2017 14:33

Well, Ausralia sends live animals to the Middle east for slaughter and then brings them back again, I am given to understand, so sending to Poland not beyond the realms of possibility.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 14/05/2017 14:44

Christ alive.

If someone asks me if my chicken is British meat and I say yes then I am using a protected term, the chicken has to have remained here and spent its entire life and processing journey here.

If they say to me where is your chicken from and I say Dorset that is not a protected term that has the same legal requirements that chicken could have been imported from anywhere born anywhere died anywhere but if I obtained it from Dorset I'm not lying or breaking the law

NonStopDisco · 14/05/2017 14:50

LedaP
Chickens can also be born and bred in another country then brought here slaughtered and labelled as British
No it can't, according to FSA food labelling guidelines as referenced by a pp above, the meat has to be raised and slaughtered to be labelled as British

YetAnotherSpartacus I agree that treatment of animals is the real issue. One of the ways of tackling this is by only purchasing higher welfare meat ( or not at all), and the best way of doing this is by having proper labelling on packaging- but if the country of origin is misleading, we've not got a hope in hell of getting welfare labelling correct.

I think it's quite clear the OP was expecting that meat described as being from Dorset would be "British"

OP, YANBU. It should be clearer where your meat has come from. As it stands you have no idea where your chicken was raised.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 14/05/2017 14:52

And yes animals can be exported for slaughter but they cannot then be labled British

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