in thinking that this behaviour in British slaughterhouses is horrific and needs to be stopped?

[Vallhala]

www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/pr_factory//2188//

I haven't seen the film footage as I can't face it. FYI I don't eat meat (for animal welfare reasons) but this isn't designed to convert others or to spark yet another veggie vs meat-eater debate.

Its to ask whether any decent human being would think these practices reasonable or acceptable and to pray to goodness that those who don't will forward the link to their MPs/press contacts/whoever in order to obtain tighter legislation and closer surveillance on what goes on in our slaughterhouses.

This is surely so wrong... or AIBU?

[Rhubarb]

Global warming has come about because of the vast numbers of men who eat stupidly hot curries on a Saturday night along with copious amounts of lager.

[Morloth]

My aunt once told me that all these climate problems were women's fault because we tend to snack on raw vegetables whilst cooking and therefore are farting more methane.

I miss Aunt Hilda, mad as a box of frogs but excellent value.

[Ripeberry]

Years ago I was in Tanzania on an overland expedition and we stopped at a village and they had a 'restaurant'. We ordered chicken and the local kept saying that 4 people had to order together.
We then found out why as he spent a good half hour chasing a chicken around the yard so he could kill it, gut it and cook it!
It was delicious

[GentleOtter]

Re prepackaged meat. Please look very carefully at the tiny writing on the plastic film. A common practice Tesco is to stick a Union Flag on it with 'packaged in the UK' in miniscule writing.
This meat will have been shipped in by one of the vast super-slaughterhouses that Tesco some of the supermarkets own.

Asda do sell 100% British meat and clearly label, sometimes with a photo of the farmer. This meat can be a bit expensive. Ironically.

All (British) cattle have their own number tag and passport so each one can be traced back to the farm. A good meat inspector can assess whether the animal is healthy, too fat, diseased etc and it will not pass in to the human food chain.
A good butcher should be able to tell you which farm your meat came from.

[GentleOtter]

I forgot to add 'Shipped in from South America'

[Rhubarb]

[Rollmops]

My dad is a hunting chap, have been out with him numerous times. All meat must be tested by labs before released for consumption, regardless if you shot it in your own forest or the lands allocated to your hunting club.
Diseased meat is obviously destroyed.

[Rollmops]

RocinSockBunnies, do you eat dairy products? Wear, own leather items? Animal welfare 'hypocricy' doesn't stop with ditching the meat you know...
Some of us are not far removed at all from the process of animal rearing and know well how the piece of steak has ended up on our plate.
As with anything, bad practice happens. It must be stopped. But one can't stain the whole industry with the same brush.

[Vallhala]

Morloth has summed it up. People are aware (a fact which I never doubted) but don't give a fuck.

Mumsnetter types don't figure in my working or social circles so I was interested to see what they had to say on the matter here.

The sad thing is that none of the sick comments made on here come as any surprise.

[RedSkyInTheMorning]

As with anything, these incidents are in the minority. Most abattoirs would and do adhere to the strictest standards. You always get the odd moronic people in these jobs that give the whole lot a bad name. Thankfully most animals really don't know what's coming.

[Rhubarb]

Hmm, the name Vallhala rings a bell on Mumsnet. You're not Jbr in disguise are you?

[Vallhala]

Rhubarb, I'm not (and who the hell is Jbr anyway?!).

[RedSkyInTheMorning]

As a farmer me and dh spend our whole working lives looking after and nurturing our animals and the thought of them having anything other than a humane death is sickening. I hope these are isolated incidents, I really do.

[Rhubarb]

She was an oldie, way back when Mumsnet was just a toddler. She used to say that kids chasing pigeons was animal abuse and she was very good at getting stats and stuff.

As I've said before, it's not that we don't give a fuck. I think you'll find the sales of free-range and organic produce do imply that as a nation, we do actually give a fuck. But these incidents are in the minority. Everyone has agreed that footage is shocking and everyone does know because there have been endless campaigns against this sort of thing.

So to say that we don't give a fuck is untrue. However what did you expect to achieve? To convert us all into being vegetarians?

[Vallhala]

I like the sound of Jrb then!

As I put in my OP, the question isn't designed to attempt to convert readers to vegetarianism. I'm not that optimistic about human nature naive.

As I said above I don't mix with Mumsnetters types either in my work or socially so it interesting to get a varied perspective.

[Rollmops]

DH was ambushed on the street yesterday by a militant cow who squealed 'eating meat is killing defensless animals' and stomping on DHs shoes.
DH phoned me and suggested a steak for dinner. Go wonder.....

[Rhubarb]

Vallhala, you sound quite condescending of Mumsnetters, may I ask why you are a member then? Is it so you can feel smug and superior?

I don't know a 'Mumsnetter type' in rl, I suspect there isn't one.

Yes it is rare because there are very strict laws now governing abattoirs and they are inspected regularly.

[Rhubarb]

For all information on packaging and food saefty, visit the FSA website.

[Vallhala]

Rhubarb - re a MN type - as said before I don't mix with other mothers as a rule, either in my business or socially. Whilst being a mother isn't a condition of MN, we might reasonably assume that they make up the majority of members. We can also probably safely assume that the mothers are women. I tend not to mix with a great deal of those either.

[Rhubarb]

So you don't mix with mothers or women.

Why exactly, did you sign up to Mumsnet? And why do you make it sound like some kind of crime to be both a mother and a woman?

There are very few people I dislike on Mumsnet, but your tone is really beginning to piss me off.

[Rhubarb]

Are you one of these cat people who fill their houses up with cats and pretend they are their babies?

[Vallhala]

You seem to be making a lot of assumptions Rhubarb.

[Rhubarb]

Assumption is where you think you know something and present it as fact. I have questioned your motives and who you are.

Would you like me to give you English lessons?

[ArizonaBarker]

If god didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them taste of meat.