Jimmy and the giant supermarket C4

[difficultpickle]

Anyone watching? I think Jimmy is on a hiding to nothing trying to get a welfare friendly product to compete with cheap meat.

Bleuurch at sinews in the meatball. That's why I am veggie!

That's why I don't buy cheap meat!

Hard to watch those gorgeous Jersey calves

Oh, poor baby calves

so he shouldn't even try??

bunny I don't understand your point?

The calves being shot was dreadful. They should have taken them and released them somewhere and atleast give the poor things a chance!

er my point is you think he's on a hiding to nothing and i'm saying so you think he shouln't bother then?

i think the message will get through but will take lots of programmes like this!

Berry there are 90,000 male calves born every year. They don't stay small for long so where would they all go? Really sad but the only way to stop it is not to buy cow's milk.

bunny no that't not what I'm saying at all. I just think that Tesco's agenda is profits rather than animal welfare. They have a very established reputation of treating their suppliers very poorly and screwing them for every penny they can. I won't shop anywhere where I think the producer gets a poor deal, hence I won't shop at Tesco.

This is why I cannot see the logic in being a vegetarian but still drinking milk.

Milk cows have a much shittier life than dairy ones. Those poor calves being shot at birth or soon after - that happens day in, day out. The female calves are also removed at birth and '"suckled" by feeding from machines, without the comfort of their mothers. And their poor mothers are deprived of their babies. And at the end of it all they still get sent to the slaughterhouse and turned into tinned steak pies and other things that use cheap meat. At least beef calves get to stay with their mothers and live a more natural life outside.

Berry, what would happen if they just "let those calves go?" They aren't weaned and if they were allowed to live would be entirely dependent on milk for a while yet. Where would they get that from in the wild?

Good luck to Jimmy, but I don't think it will work. Of course, no-one from Tesco is prepared to say that they could make their entire meat range high-welfare instantly with no additional cost to the consumer if they absorbed the costs themselves and made slightly less profit each year. As if that would happen. And the sad truth is that most shoppers never stop to think about where their meat or dairy produce comes from.

Sorry - should say milk cows have a much shitter life than beef ones.

lurcher I agree about vegetarians if the choice is because of animal welfare but I think a lot of people don't honestly know how milk is produced (ie the production of calves).

tesco need to do something though, this could be the change they need

But why do tesco "need" to do something? Morally, yes of course they do. But from their point of view they're getting everything they need - like the programme said before, £1 in every £7 spent in this country passes through their tills. They're making £billions every year and people are happy to buy any quality of meat they sell - so where's the incentive to change? The moral incentive alone isn't going to be enough.

i thought they were losing money?

They are making less profit but are far from losing money. The concerns those farmers have are exactly what Tescos have a reputation for doing.

I'd like to know why Tesco's existing dairy farmers aren't interested in getting involved in this project.

I am really ignorant but does that mean cheese and youghurt etc are a no no if concerned with animal welfare?

Of course snoopy! What are they made from?

Anyone noticed the absurdity of the people saying they wouldn't buy veal cos its cruel... and yet were happy to buy any old meat regardless of welfare standards because it was cheap.

As far why Tesco need to do something... well Tesco is scrapping its value range. Why do that, if they didn't think they were losing market share and that they had brand image problems? It is about profit, but there is also money to be made from changing perceptions about how they viewed morally, even at the budget end of the market.

Well I was wondering if there were any ethical choices for dairy products like buying free range meat?

snoopy good point. I don't know the answer as calves are always a by product of milk production.

Love how Jimmy put them on the spot regarding European veal welfare standards being illegal in the UK.

So end of week 1 he's failed in his target of getting Tesco to accept better welfare meatballs. Let's hope next week is better.