Bernard sodding Matthews

[Greensleeves]

at this

So, who is ultimately responsible for the bird flu virus? BM or the farm where they bird came from? And where was that? Are we into international law yet? I think this one might be very difficult to chase. In the end, we are probably better off pating people out (local farmer ao major corporation) to get rid of the disease ASAP or we might spread birdflu throughout Europe.

It would be a fairly simple matter to legislate for British producers not to deal with farms whose standards don't meet our requirements for hygiene and humane practice. BM and bastards like him deal with the worst and most appalling suppliers because it's cheaper, and they are pathologically greedy.

Paying someone to prevent them from breaking the law is a bit like saying "Don't hit your brother, I'll give you a sweet if you don't"...which sadly is quite a common mentality these days.

But, is there such a law? Did they break it?

These are genuine questions. I must admit I don't really know much about BM or their practices. (but I am no fan of turkey twizzlers)

I see what you're saying Greensleeves. There is no easy solution. I wish that a mass avoidance of BM (and other low quality produce) foods would work - unfortunately, judging by the stuff I saw on Jamie Oliver's school dinners programme, a large proportion of the population do buy twizzlers and such items, precisely because they are cheap. Didn't Jamie spend hours trying to get through to the producers of this rubbish how bad it was for people to actually eat it? And how far did he get, precisely nowhere. More interested in profit margins.

How would a law like you suggest possibly be monitored and policed?

I still don't think that punishing companies like BM would work - it would just make them hide their cover-ups even better, and report outbreaks even more slowly. If only everyone in the world was as ethical as we'd like them to be....

It's so depressing

Greeny, I can support a boycott on BM on the basis that turkey twizzlers are crap. Will that make you feel better?

Yes, it would

turkeys are dirty, they are fed to dogs in some countries. I admire BM for doing what he has done and making such a successful company off his own back but times have changed since he started and folks are more aware of what they are eating. In another 20 yrs there won't be anything like turkey twizzlers, mark my words!!! I still get so wound up by the comp thing though (although I can understand that it's there to protect farmers who have a raw deal of it most of the time and BM is a farmer ultimately)

How anyone can admire a man like that is beyond me.

I understand the principle of encouraging fast reporting etc - but BM did not do this - it took a while, he knew there was flu in the Hungarian plant, and even once flu was established in his factory here, the BBC filmed inadequate practices - such as uncovered waste bins, with seagulls diving in and grabbing raw dead turkey and carrying it off.....
So what sort of good practice does failing to bring him to account for all that encourage?

And as for 'off his own back' - well, off the backs of miserable battery factoried birds, which are used as baseballs in games ny his no dooubt underpaid staff. And on the backs of the gullible, and economically poorest public, who pay to eat his horrible products. Off the backs of scholchildren fed turkey footballs, dinosaurs, twizzlers, and other 'novelty' reconstitution of turkey vagina.

Bloody greedy irresponsible exploitative man.

I've never liked the man and refused to buy his products cos they are not bootiful!

they should get sued for producing bloody crap hormone filled turkeys that taste like shit

I agree his company is crap and I wouldn't eat his products (but I have in the past, when I was a kid and I am ok!) but a man that started his company with just a couple of birds and an incubator should be admired for what he has acheived off his own back. At least he got off his arse and worked day and night to make his money, not like an awful lot of Company Directors. That doesn't mean I agree with the compensation (mine was one of the first posts condemning it actually). Remember he set BM up when we were all eating battery eggs, frozen battery chickens, cow spinal cords and bone marrow and all sorts of crap, ham in a tin, salmon in a tin, margarine and white bread. Unless you had a bird roaming free in your back garden chances are the poultry you ate was battery farmed. We are all so self righteous these days (and I am too - I'm not having a go) with our farmers markets and organic produce, fair trade, free range, locally sourced and whatever.

LOL, do you admire Sweeney Todd, too? he was a self-made man. Very cost-effective and enterprising.

The way Bernard Matthews "farms" are run is nothing like real farming. There is no consideration for the turkeys whatsoever. They live in filthy conditions and are given drugs to make them grow to way beyond their natural size - so large that they cannot carry their own weight and end up sitting in the piss and shit that is not cleared away and which burns through their skin. The only way they cvan move is to laboriously drag themselves along with their wings. They don't even mate - there are people whose job it is to "wank" the male turkeys and inseminate the females. The turkeys have short and hellish lives followed by an extremely inhumane death, often being abused by the workers.

Compensation???!!!

Now, Richard Branson's more of an admirable self made man I think (no doubt someone will disagree...!), and I do see Virgin doing quite a few initiatives that are ethical and do promote environmental sustainability. Virgin does seem to be aware of its carbon footprint as a corporate entity, e.g. Virgin fuels - they are going to plough profits from their transportation companies into a company doing research on sustainable fuels. No doubt Branson is partly doing this for the good publicity, and of course future profits but who cares.

BM is a bit more "old school" profit at all cost, it seems.

Digression over, sorry.

or have I been taken in by the Virgin brand????

Tooticky, I feel ill now at the mere thought of a turkey twizzler (have never eaten one btw, and would be if someone offered my DCs one...)

And it's not just Bernard Matthews...

Nope. That's my point. He's a businessman, like the rest of them and it's all about money not happy poultry. And it was only recently that anyone gave an arse about the ethics of farming and how the animals we ultimately eat live before they are slaughtered. Do you remember how novel the body shop was when it first opened? Times have changed, BM is a very old man and it's not his company anymore, he doesn't make the decisions. There are farms all over the country that treat their animals terribly, he isn't the only one. Nearly all the meat you find in the supermarket is treated like shit and injected with crap before it ends up on our plates. However, organic farming is very expensive and free range doesn't mean free range.

well some people have been campaigning for good farming practices and more compassionate animal husbandry for quite some time. And just because something has been going on for ages doesn't make it acceptable. supermarkets are also to blame, because they price well raised meat over and above most people's affordability.

It was amusing when Jeremy Vine got him mixed up with Bernard Manning.

"Them bloody foreign turkey f**ers, they come over here and take our jobs..."

...yes they come over here, take our jobs and screw our female turkeys, bastards !

storming post Blu - agree with it completely.

Gingermonkey - speak for yourself: "it was only recently anyone gave an arse about the ethics of farming". What you mean is, it is only recently that YOU have been aware of it. Many other people have been interested and concerned for years and years. Don't assume everyone is just like you. And your point that " we were all eating battery eggs, battery chickens..." - wrong again. Lots of people have never eaten that shite although it sounds like you have.

It is outrageous that BM is being compensated instead of fined. I just hope that sales of his products have suffered and that everyone should boycott all BM products.

donnie, actually I grew up with very happy animals that my grandfather had on a small holding and had free range meat and eggs, as well as home grown fruit and veg from an early age. I was very lucky and had a fab childhood, but money was tight and sometimes my mum had to go to Bejam and buy us something like turkey drummers. I campaigned for ethical farming as a teenager and don't agree BM should be compensated for the outbreak, notout of the public purse, surely it is a matter for his insurance company. However, it is very true that ethical farming is a relatively new concept to most people. And some people don't have a clue what it is, or care either TBH.