- Location
- Montgomeryshire
From an industry that keeps a myriad of different breeds and crosses, reared on a thousand different systems?
Tesco wtf?
- Thread starter melted welly
- Start date
From an industry that keeps a myriad of different breeds and crosses, reared on a thousand different systems?
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Back when I was with the ex, I shopped in Morrisons. Where she lived there was only a Tesco (big one, though). We were regularly having red meat from both and there was no contest - Morrisons was easily better didn't matter what we tried. I'd like to think I could pick a good steak but I was consistently disappointed.
I just don't know what they do to ruin good beef and pork (never tried lamb from Tesco, due to how little Scottish or UK was on the shelf)
- Location
- mid wales
Doesn't anyone on here kill their own?
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Young sheep for mild
Mutton yea cattle no .
- Location
- mid wales
Kill our own lamb/mutton, beef, and get our pork from brother inlaw by the half/whole pig, better job by half than any super market.
And yet the veg side had an incredibly tight spec, anything that didn't meet the grade went in the skip.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Kill our own lamb sometimes (usually one that does something stupid like break a leg when ready to go!) and rear a couple of pigs for the freezer. No beef reared here though.
I agree that it's far better than what you can buy in any supermarket, even though the rest of my lamb does indeed end up in a supermarket, like most other UK lamb does.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Carcass spec is usually just on a visual EUROP grid though, with subcutaneous fat classed on the same visual assessment as the carcass passes by on the line, and carcass weight within a range.
The grading system currently takes no account for things that effect eating quality, like levels of intramuscular fat. IMF varies within breeds, but also massively between breeds. As a sheepy example, we put lambs through a CT scanner (the same as the NHS use) which gives the information of a carcass dissection, but in a live animal. We have CT scanned pure Beltex lambs alongside pure Charollais lambs, all at around slaughter weight and all reared on the same system. The Charollais were all up around 1.5-2% imf, the Beltexes around 0.5%, but all would grade as an E2-3L when hung up. There would be a big difference in eating quality as a result.
Can you guess which goes in our freezer?
oil barron
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I’m guessing they put the 4Hs through the shop on the side. Tesco wants the bright red 3s for their shelves.
Nothing wrong with British Supermarket meat, if some meat is poor it's the producers fault, not the processors.
If animals are stressed and having to travel hundreds of miles to marts and abattoirs which pay a few pence more per kg, it will adversely impact upon meat quality. A simple thing like not having access to water for several hours during transport, will have a major detrimental impact on meat quality. That is why home kill meat always tastes better.
Maybe the title should read, some farmers wtf.
If animals are stressed and having to travel hundreds of miles to marts and abattoirs which pay a few pence more per kg, it will adversely impact upon meat quality. A simple thing like not having access to water for several hours during transport, will have a major detrimental impact on meat quality. That is why home kill meat always tastes better.
Maybe the title should read, some farmers wtf.
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
There is, its normally $h!te. I speak from experience. Not all supermarkets, but tesco and sainsbury's are the one's I've had bad experiences with.
I've also had bad cuts of beef from a butcher I might add, but we told him.
The quality from butchers is much more consistent, why? I don't know.
Slaughterhouse is only 30 minutes from our farm, we haul them there with tractor.
It's the supermarkets fault there are less slaughterhouses because they've screwed everyone into the ground and put a lot out of business.
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how bout pull your horns in,?
its got nothing to do with the price im offered, that is the fact that my stock now has to be transported for 1and half hours instead of ten minutes.
lazy farmer
Member
- Location
- som/dor border
What I find difficult to understand. Is that Tesco’s Is proudly price matching with Aldi. Which given a much higher cost base must mean they are either absolutely screwing over the supplier or the quality of the product has to be lower. But the general public are happy with this because either they don’t care or more likely they can’t afford to care..
Your butcher will hang meat longer, which will make all the difference.
It's not the supermarkets fault, the consumers choose to shop at supermarkets including us farmers.
Supermarkets are also not to blame for the EEC regulations which were introduced in 1994 which drove the majority of small abattoirs out of business. If it wasn't for the BSE cull which made some abattoir operators into millionaires, there would be even fewer abattoirs around.
- Location
- DD9.
Are you vegan?
Ah, the EU.....gotcha...
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
Id hope not he owns an abattoir
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Ah, the EU.....gotcha.
or was it GB’s interpretation of EU rules, as is often the case?
what’s the situation in France or Germany? Have they lost all their small abattoirs too (I suspect I know the answer)?
But yes, I always thought it was the ridiculous numbers of inspectors needed that did for the small abattoirs.
I used to use a local slaughterman at home, working behind a butcher’s shop. I remember going in their one day and he was working alone (as usual), but with 2 white coated inspectors in there with him, on £80/hr each iirc. They didn’t stay open much longer.
- Location
- DD9.
Ah...Id hope not he owns an abattoir
No a farmer and a butcher.
My point is you can't blame Tesco for selling poor quality meat, they can only process what British farmers sell to them, they are not the producers.
If farmers are going to publicly claim that British meat sold by Tesco is c7ap and that as a result they will boycott them. Then why should housewives purchase British meat? They may as well purchase imported meat for less?
This thread is degrading the very product we produce and advertise as being the best in the world?
We are not sat in the local chatting over the bar, this is a worldwide forum and we are taking the pee out of our own products .....Madness!