Whistleblower

[moggssue]

I buy all my meat from a local farmer and trust him, I can see the animals in the fields enjoying their life, then he prepares the carcasses himself so I feel I'm getting what I pay for. I use Tesco for 'sundries' like washing powder and the like but am increasingly thinking even that should be bought locally. Oh, and why is it that whenever I go abroad on holiday the meat always, but always, looks so much more apetising, healthier, cheaper, than the crap we are offered in this country>?

[muckdiva]

We have a really excellent fortnightly veg box delivery (just in case there's famine in the garden ) from Flights Orchard, and they are now able to add more things to the boxes by special order such as meats, washing powder, cooking sauces and condiments, wines, juices and cider etc. I think the more demand there is for companies like this, the more they will be able to offer, which makes the weekly shop very convenient indeed IMO.

[beefy]

I don't think it's all that bad.
I prefer the controls on supermarket food to whatever my local butcher thinks is safe. It is after all, hard for environmental health officers to keep tabs on the flux of local produce because it's not in manageable quantities.

I also have no problems with preservatives or other additives because they are relatively safe and add to food quality.

Fresh vegetables spread 80% of the bugs responsible for food poisoning and I am quite happy with the job the supermarkets do in washing them.

Oh dear you have been misled Simon.
When a group of farmers from Northern Ireland tried to visit Argentina to see the conditions that the beef that was being exported to the UK were being kept in Tescos told the Argentines to deny them a visa to visit the country or they would cancell the order.They didn't get in.
Enviromental officers cant keep up with the supermarkets because they work on a "just in time delivery " . In otherwords the product is booked to arrive at say 9.00 in the morning and as soon as its unloaded its split up and sorted for delivery to the shops. Its in a trailer and gone 2 hours later.Those big distrubution centres have nowhere to store anything .Produce comes in one side , travells across the floor and out the other side.
Supermarkets wash the veg. No they don't .The pack house does and the veg sits in a plastic bag wet from its washed untill you eat it which is at best 3 days later.Ask anyone and they will tell you its the best way of multiplying bacteria.

I purposely didn't watch it!! We eat meat almost daily - with fish thrown in for good measure. I'm afraid that I go by my ignorance, if I don't know, it doesn't matter!! (Have to say thats not for all subjects - but food yes!).

Jan
x

witch1 - are you actually saying that you dont know and dont care what you put down your and your famillys throat.
Iv'e been a lorry driver for over ten years (now semi-retired from it but still do a bit at weekends) and what I saw during those 10 years was enough to scare the s**t out of me and thats not an easy thing to do.Heres a post from an older thread as I cant be bothered to type it all again --

Got a farming background my self and we kill an animal evry year to put in the freezer for ourselves. We rear the animal from birth to slaughter and grow the food that goes down its throat in our fields.
As I have said elsewhere in this forum we can trace the animal from birth to slaughter and know exactly what it has been fed and how it has been looked after - thats my idea of quality assurance.

I feel pity for people who dont know where their food comes from -but after spending 10 years delivering the raw ingredients to the food industry its probably better that most people dont know what they are eating.If you really want to know what goes into your sausages,burgers ,kebabs read on -if you dont look away now.

SAUSAGES- Pigs heads are put on spikes and the "meat" is steamed off and minced up for sausages .When the factory is finished there is nothing left on the skull but the bone.

BURGERS- As above but they also use pigs feet as well - same process with the steam.

KEBABS - Old mutton sheep that are no use for anything else are slaugtered an the carcases hung in a stainless steel room.On the floor stainless steel trays compleatly cover the floor.Close the doors and turn up the heat - as the meat cooks it falls off the bone into the tray below .A bone could fall in to but its all ground up and formed into what you see spinning round in the kebab shop window .


Enjoy your meal .

Kebab anyone ?

Heres a link to the thread so you can read it all and get the context of what was being said -http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...upermarkets%21

[jacob marley]

what makes people think farmers markets are any better than supermarkets i know you are going to say it is fresher and we know were it comes from i occasionally go into birmingham wholesale market early morning and you would be surprised how many farmers market vans are in there loading up you can only say it as you see it is it fraud or what

[MrsC]

going to give my opinion too if u don't mind. i have been veggie for most of my life, no meat, chicken or fish, although my family are not i cook it (which tastes lovely as many people tell me) but have got to admit that i try to use some local suppliers if i can, think it is the same for most products really, veg included, always tastes so much better when u grow your own. i've got to admit that when u shop in a supermarket u do buy things u don't need, if u ain't got it u make do, well i do anyway. on the other hand i think each to their own and respect that, how can i really say anything about being veggie and wear leather shoes? hope u know what i'm trying to say.

[muckdiva]

what makes people think farmers markets are any better than supermarkets i know you are going to say it is fresher and we know were it comes from i occasionally go into birmingham wholesale market early morning and you would be surprised how many farmers market vans are in there loading up you can only say it as you see it is it fraud or what

I hear what you are saying JM; 'organic' and 'local food' seem to be growth areas at the moment, and there will be those who try and rip people off, but the consumer has the power to vote with their wallet/purse. Personally I buy less meat and ask to visit the farm where the meat I do buy is produced - producers will be happy to show you around if they have nothing to hide. Lots of the stallholders on our local farmers market produce meat on farms within a few miles of the marketplace and actively encourage people to visit with open days etc.

[valmarg]

Fresh vegetables spread 80% of the bugs responsible for food poisoning and I am quite happy with the job the supermarkets do in washing them.

Thats not the way I feel. The pre-packed salad leaves on sale in supermarkets have been washed in a solution of chlorine 20 times stronger than your local swimming pool. Since I read that I've not bought any more prepared salads.

I've also read the two books, Shopped and Not on the Label, mentioned by muckdiva. I've certainly changed my attitude to supermarkets since reading them.

valmarg

[SimonCole]

I think that if you tested salad, you'd find acceptable chlorine levels.

Oh dear you have been misled Simon.

Those are my opinions. I have a good understanding of food safety.

[Alison]

Why would you want chlorine on your salad anyway?

[muckdiva]

SimonCole, I think you are winding us all up for a laugh

[HappyMouffe]

Why would you want chlorine on your salad anyway?

because it's preferable to getting E. coli O157, which has been passed on via manure spread on organic (and also non-organic) salad.

I'm pretty happy with supermarket standards. I do use a local butcher for my meat, but not because I believe supermarkets are evil, only because I can get precisely what I want and have a chat at the same time. However, I believe that the supermarkets have higher food hygiene standards than my local butchers.

[dan1979]

because it's preferable to getting E. coli O157, which has been passed on via manure spread on organic (and also non-organic) salad.

So chlorine has always been used on all salads?

I thought it was a recent introduction for bagged stuff....

[HappyMouffe]

I didn't say it has always been used on all salads, just why it is used, when it is used. However, I've not worked in the fresh produce industry, so don't know the details of legislation in this area.

[Sue]

Am I the only one on here old enough to remember when lettuces were grown in the earth and you had to wash the mud off the leaves along with the slugs and greenfly??? And no veg came in plastic at all.
And remember too buying strawberries and cherries by the pound in brown paper bags instead of overpriced little punnets. £3 for 15 raspberries last year, was my favourite non buy.
OK, That's the other extreme, but surely as well as the gasses and whatever else is put in the food it's the wretched packaging that is a real problem. And this is one of the main reasons why I won't use supermarkets unless I absolutely have to. I'm fed up with a bin full of excess plastic and get my veg at the farmer's market or box delivery. Box delivery is best because all the packaging is recycled.
The other main reason for avoiding them is that old favourite food miles, a lot of the pillow packs of salad come from California.
I fall off the perch more often than I would like but try to keep to eating British produce, produced in my county if possible, and in the best of all possible worlds - grown by me.
Sue

[Alison]

Well said Sue, agree with everything you've said. If all your lettuce has on it is a bit of mud and the occaisional yucky slug then give it a good wash and a shake and you have a nice fresh and health salad with out chemicals or packagaging!