To ask if you will buy British meat rather than OZ/NZ with lower welfare standards?

[Mamaboo22]

Partly inspired by the farmer thread…

The Brexit trade deal with Australia has opened up tariff free trade for meat which can be produced to a lower animal welfare standard than employed by the UK system

Our UK farmers could be undercut by imports where poorer practices are employed

Will you support homegrown meat, UK farming and the standards they work to?

@nancy75

The problem is not the bit of steak you buy in the local butchers, it’s the meat in your child’s school dinners, in hospital dinners, in restaurants & takeaways.

I agree, this is what really worries me, although last time I asked a restaurant where their chicken was from it was from Brazil, so not sure what’s going on there!

But yes, I will definitely choose to buy British over Australian, having seen the animal welfare standards. I would rather eat less meat than cruelly raised meat.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

The honest answer is that it will be whatever is cheaper for me.

If I had the money I would support British farmers 100%, but my morals and my bank balance don't quite align sometimes.

Yep whatever is cheap and good quality. Lidl meat for example is much better quality than tesco (tesco pork is usually more fat than meat) and its usually cheaper. Can't afford to be picky.

Either way, the animal died because you want to eat it. Kind of agree with the vegetarians, if you're that bothered, stop eating meat. They don't die in a happy state of mind in Britain you know.

@Classica

Brexit is absolute bollocks but I feel sorry for all farmers, even Brexit voting farmers, whose industry is being shown nothing but contempt by the govt. It’s a hard enough slog with few holidays and without massive financial rewards for most, and this is not going to improve their lives. And if farming suffers, we all suffer. A country happy to shaft its own farmers accepts that imports will have to make up a massive chunk of the food chain. And that’s a precarious/stupid position to choose.

Around here loads of farmland is being sold off and houses being built,so maybe we'll need to get all our food from overseas when we've got no farmland left.

I don't eat red meat so won't buy it anyway. However, I do eat poultry and dairy and agree it's not all roses in those industries.

As for CJD have there been any cases? Back in the early to mid 90s it was all about how we'd start seeing all the cases in about 20 years time. I don't think we have, have we? I was able to donate blood in Germany in the mid 90s but then they banned residents of the UK in the 80s from doing so (and back then I did eat meat). As a pp said, we learnt from that debacle.

I always buy British and actually buy from the local farms when possible. Animal welfare is the highest importance. My venison was shot on the estate next door as was the pheasant eggs too. And meat within 10 miles

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/985694/australia-trade-and-investment-factsheet-2021-05-14.pdf

It’s a trade deal not a meat deal. If Australia can’t get a fair deal to sell goods in the UK and reduces trade with the UK, the UK stands to loose literally billions.

www.instagram.com/p/CQLOJ-tJVJD/?utm_medium=copy_link

I'll buy based on price.
Not everyone is in a position to only buy the locally farm shop produced meat.
I appreciate some will choose to not eat meat unless they can have the best, but not all veg/salad/lentils/fish is particularly ethical either.

I always buy British meat, the only exceptions are NZ lamb & Danish bacon. I can't see the point of this trade deal, Australia has no products except for their wine we can't produce here.

@Nat6999

I always buy British meat, the only exceptions are NZ lamb & Danish bacon. I can't see the point of this trade deal, Australia has no products except for their wine we can't produce here.

The deal is about reciprocal work visas as much as meat...

From the Guardian on Australian food standards and animal welfare:

“ What about animal welfare and food quality?

The government has categorically denied that hormone-fed beef will be allowed into British supermarkets as a result of the deal. “We are absolutely not compromising our high animal welfare and food safety standards. The government continues to champion the top quality producer British farmers both for domestic consumption and overseas,” he said.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU), however, is concerned as the government made no mention of safeguards for animal welfare in its press statement on Tuesday. It has raised concerns about UK farmers competing with lower standards on industrial scale ranches in Australia, which can involve up to 50,000 animals.

More than 30 active substances are permitted for use on sugar cane that are illegal in the UK including paraquat, a weedkiller banned by the EU in 2007.

Animal welfare practices allowed in Australia but banned in the UK include “mulesing”, the removal of wool-bearing skin in the buttock area of sheep to prevent infection by flies.

What about use of antibiotics in Australian farms?

Antibiotics are in effect permitted for use as a growth promoter, a practice banned in the UK since 2006. Antibiotic usage levels are 16 times per animal in poultry and triple the amount in pigs.

The overuse of antibiotics in farming is one of the biggest causes of the rapidly growing resistance to the drugs across the world, which threatens to make even the strongest antibiotics ineffective and make routine operations such as hip replacements potentially life-threatening.”

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/15/uk-australia-trade-deal-what-does-it-mean-brexit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Also from Guardian article:

The deal is centred almost entirely on goods, eliminating tariffs on exports to each other’s countries over 15 years. Overall it could increase UK GDP by an estimated 0.01 to 0.02%.

Will it mean more change in British pockets?

Yes. About 1p a week. The government has said it will save British consumers £34m a year, equating to 52p a person.

So v little gain with a lot of negatives.

I only buy British meat, and use the butcher. My Aussie and NZ purchases tend to be fruit and wine.

@Nat6999

I always buy British meat, the only exceptions are NZ lamb & Danish bacon. I can't see the point of this trade deal, Australia has no products except for their wine we can't produce here.

I always but significant exceptions.

Why?

@looptheloopinahulahoop I’m British living in Aus and we aren’t even allowed to donate blood here if we’ve lived in the U.K. between a certain time.

Can I ask, if the UK has rejected Europe and by the sounds of things isn’t too keen on a strategic alliance with Australia, what countries do you think it’s worthwhile working with?
And don’t say New Zealand as there are about 1/2 as many of them as Londoners.

@hesterstanhope

Can I ask, if the UK has rejected Europe and by the sounds of things isn’t too keen on a strategic alliance with Australia, what countries do you think it’s worthwhile working with? And don’t say New Zealand as there are about 1/2 as many of them as Londoners.

The UK hasn't "rejected europe". We have left the EU.

I will not buy anything from Aus/NZ under this deal.

Produce that can be kept frozen and shipped halfway around the world, with associated fuel and staffing costs, and STILL be cheaper than produce from the UK (or Europe) - how utterly crap must that stuff be?

My main objection is the horrendous hypocrisy of a government lecturing us about climate change, soon to make us change our cars and boiler, yet cutting us off from our nearest markets and signing trade deals with countries on the other side of the world that will be a massive cause of pollution and climate change.

Shipping/planes are the largest producers of pollution in the world.

So to be clear, it is not about EU, it is about not shipping/flying stuff in highly polluting transportation halfway around the world.

A secondary point, how this stuff can still be cheaper than our own or Europe's, it must be total shit.

I'm vegetarian but will ensure DH always buys British meat going forward.

PLEASE BUY BRITISH, LIVESTOCK IS TREATED TERRIBLY IN AUSTRALIA

PLEASE BUY BRITISH MEAT, LIVESTOCK IS TREATED TERRIBLY IN AUSTRALIA

(I can't state this enough...)

I personally only eat meat once a week and that is organic/high welfare.
but there are plenty of people who don't want to spend or can't afford to spend more on food and will buy whatever is cheapest.

The UK hasn't "rejected europe". We have left the EU

One in the same thing, EU and Europe are pretty much indivisible, i remember Thatcher saying how much joining the SM would mean for british exports and trade..... the reverse has now happned.

Trade has fallen of a cliff with the EU.

So now we will be forced to accept foodstuffs from other countries with v poor welfare standards.... why hasn't the EU had a FTA with Australia?

why hasn't the EU had a FTA with Australia?

They have been negotiating one since 2018. It is taking longer than the UK one because a deal with an entire bloc is more complicated. But also because the EU are in a stronger negotiating position and will be playing a longer, harder game. The Australians are also very experienced on trade negotiations and will have got a good deal from the UK.

That Guardian article looked interesting but this stood out as problematic

What about use of antibiotics in Australian farms?

Antibiotics are in effect permitted for use as a growth promoter, a practice banned in the UK since 2006. Antibiotic usage levels are 16 times per animal in poultry and triple the amount in pigs.

The overuse of antibiotics in farming is one of the biggest causes of the rapidly growing resistance to the drugs across the world, which threatens to make even the strongest antibiotics ineffective and make routine operations such as hip replacements potentially life-threatening.”