Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
Don’t worry there’s only ever 25 of us on here
Tesco wtf?
- Thread starter melted welly
- Start date
Seriously you would be surprised how many non farming folk read the comments. Being associated with farming is fashionable.
If farmers themselves are taking the pee out of British lamb, we have no chance at all. Thats why I am being a prat about the subject, it does us no favours.
I have highlighted the livestock travel distances in previous comments, hoping someone with authority may read them and may try to help smaller more local abattoirs.
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
You have already said butchers hang meat longer and that makes all the difference?
Then your blaming the quality of beef supplied by British farmers/us is poor and you can't blame the supermarkets?
Make up your mind.
You have already said butchers hang meat longer and that makes all the difference?
Then your blaming the quality of beef supplied by British farmers/us is poor and you can't blame the supermarkets?
Make up your mind.
Your butcher processes 2 cattle a week?
Abattoirs can process 100 an hour, where will they find the extra chill space to hang for longer?
If farmers choose to use abattoirs supplying Tesco, resulting in their animals travelling further,it will have a detrimental impact on meat quality. This happens as we have return loads on the same livestock lorries at times.
Last edited:
lloyd
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I agree with your earlier point. The supermarkets are producing what the public want and expect. If there sales of meat dropped as the general public all chose to go to butchers for meat instead of buying it at the supermarkets they would change.
They could build extra chill space if supermarkets demanded they hang for longer. But at the end of the day someones going to pay for it, and I doubt it will be supermarkets.
I do take umbrage at you blaming farmers for the poor quality of meat. We have recently had 3 animals killed at local large abattoir and processed by local butcher and received beef from our own cattle and I'm proud to say it tastes great. Much better than anything we've had from a supermarket.
The whole system needs to change, we need to be paid on meat quality. I remember hearing about Nirs near infra red spectrophy that can reliably predict the eating quality of meat. Marbling scores? Instead of Europ grading system.
Stress at loading and transport is another issue you have highlighted already. Another one that's already been pointed out above is lack of consistency in finishing systems and breeds.
Anyway I'll shut up now. Carry on.
- Location
- DD9.
My point wasn’t degrading the produce, it was questioning what the hell happens to the product between producer and consumer. Those lamb chops, weren’t even chops, looked like they’d been cut to a predetermined thickness instead of between the ribs. Some chops didn’t even have rib bone. The ones from the supposed discounter outlet are twice if not 3 times the size.
you’ll be in a good position to answer this, what constitutes a lamb chop? Is it cut between the bones or just a cut from the rack to a specified thickness?
And my issue is that is what the public buy, they get the same disappointment as me, they don’t buy that again. They’ll try the imported stuff next time. That’s not the fault of the producer, it’s the margin squeezers trying to make their top heavy retail model compete with the leaner competition and failing on all fronts.
PR
I think we as farmers would be better of blaming a un named farmer for providing the lamb which the op purchased, as being poor quality.
Rather then stating that all British meat which Tesco sell is c7ap.
Rule 1 of product promotion, NEVER ever publicly take the pee out of the product you produce.
I will leave you gentleman to take the pee out of British Lamb if you so wish, I have contributed my 2p worth.
Lamb comes in all shapes and sizes, so there can be a difference in cuts. If you look at imported cuts this is also evident.
If there were no marts and no competition, the supermarkets would dictate the breed and weight of lambs to farmers, so the products were identical. Similar to poultry and pork. Until such a time there will be a variation in the products for sale on the shelves.
A further problem is finding quality staff at present, so its a case of using what labour is available.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
ollie989898
Member
There aren't many people on this forum who produce a vacuum packed sliver of meat I would suggest.
I will go to John Thorners and buy some stuff and photograph it. The supermarkets only sell prepackaged stuff that looks absolutely identical and have convinced the consumer that what they sell is the desirable end of the market. All excess fat is trimmed off or discouraged from even entering the chain. Supermarket pork, chicken and beef is all largely tasteless. Their lamb is not much better.
If I go to a typical farm shop, the thickness of the cuts I buy won't be matched in any supermarket I know of. Gammon steaks, bacon, pork chops or loin- cook them and a horde of water comes out and they basically reduce in size by 50%. I've long since given up buying or eating supermarket bacon, it's worthless.
You can't possibly tell me that the stuff in a good farm shop or butcher's is even in the same league as the mass market stuff on a supermarket shelf. The price, for starters, tells me everything I need to know, not the least the fact you won't find Danish bacon in any self respecting butchers shop.
I will go to John Thorners and buy some stuff and photograph it. The supermarkets only sell prepackaged stuff that looks absolutely identical and have convinced the consumer that what they sell is the desirable end of the market. All excess fat is trimmed off or discouraged from even entering the chain. Supermarket pork, chicken and beef is all largely tasteless. Their lamb is not much better.
If I go to a typical farm shop, the thickness of the cuts I buy won't be matched in any supermarket I know of. Gammon steaks, bacon, pork chops or loin- cook them and a horde of water comes out and they basically reduce in size by 50%. I've long since given up buying or eating supermarket bacon, it's worthless.
You can't possibly tell me that the stuff in a good farm shop or butcher's is even in the same league as the mass market stuff on a supermarket shelf. The price, for starters, tells me everything I need to know, not the least the fact you won't find Danish bacon in any self respecting butchers shop.
icanshootwell
Member
- Location
- Ross-on-wye
Totally agree with this, I would only assume older animals are getting through the system, but will probably get shot down again for saying so, I don,t buy any meat from supermarkets to much of a lottery, been disappointed to many times.
Just a tip for your brother,the pan will be not hot enough for the steak and too hot for the egg.......sacrilege.
Guiggs
Member
- Location
- Leicestershire
I think that's butter not egg!
You’re right....
I‘ve only recently started cooking the steaks for the missus and the steak needs a super hot pan to sear the outside.Salt and pepper the steak then add the butter with garlic and rosemary after it is seared.
Steaks are a real challenge but enjoyable to cook when you get your head around it.
I had farm shop butchers at the abattoir this morning, fair play to them, they picked out the very best from the chillers.
The lean Beltex lambs and BB heifers they took were built like Mike Tyson in his prime and did not have an ounce of fat.
In comparison the cheaper outdoor lambed, free grazed, hill lambs which the Asian butchers took, were fit and had a thin cover of fat. These will taste far superior to any Beltex.
The above demonstrates that quality and taste are two totally different issues.
As long as supermarkets sell British meat and help us farmers, we really should not criticise them online.
Every farm has different feeding, operating and breeding processes, therefore evidently meat will taste different, it is a natural product after all.
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
I can't agree it's down to the cattle.
A farm near me put their fat cattle away through McIntosh Donald. There's nothing wrong with those cattle, they're young and fattened just the same as most others...
But buy a steak in Tesco and its a dull pink colour with a look and feel of rubber about it. They look like a cartoon drawing. Quite often there's almost a rotten smell when you open the packet, too, and that's meat still well within its use by date. Compare that to Morrisons which has a bright, healthy look to the meat with no questionable scent. It's soft and tender in your hand and cooks totally differently.
I did wonder at the time if it was the vacuum packing which did it, as Morrisons still used polystyrene trays with clingfilm. But most beef seems to be put out vacuum packed now... but still it's just Tesco steaks which are sh*t
IMO Tesco are f**king about with the meat, probably so that they can store it longer in a similar way they do their milk... You can taste its already going off as soon as you open it
Tarw Coch
Member
- Location
- Bottom of Wats Dyke
So meat from the butchers, sourced from the same supply chains tastes better than from the supermarkets because it’s been hung longer.
The reason there isn’t the space to hang the supermarket meat longer is because no one, supermarket or processor has invested in it, the butcher has.
Yes it would be a massive cost for someone to do on that scale but it’s a cost the butcher has to stand and I’ve yet to hear of anything in manufacturing or processing that can’t be done far cheaper on a large scale than a small scale so it’s a cop out to say it can’t be done, it’s merely cutting corners to save costs/boost profits
- Location
- North Wales
I don't want to sound rude but you are part of the problem. You described the beltex lambs with no fat as the 'very best' but as you say they won't taste as good as the out door hill grazed lambs.
I bet you complemented the beltex farmer for producing excellent lambs to reaffirm his thought that he is doing an excellent job where in reality the product may not be as good to the final paying consumer as he thinks.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
U.K. meat grading system is outdated , pays on quantity of meat not eating quality shear madness in times of plenty .