Where did my steak come from.

[llamedos]

I thought it may be interesting to challenge the RT traceability claim 'From Farm to Fork'

So off I went to Aldi as all their meat is RT assured.

I bought an Ashfield Farm branded Sirloin, 100% British Sirloin steak, an 8oz steak for a little over £3

Now, to be perfectly honest, I expected very little, from an eating quality perspective, and given the price...
How wrong I was on that score!

It was beautiful, cooked to perfection, it tasted lovely, it was tender, unlike some vastly more expensive steaks I have bought. It really tasted of Beef.

So, where did it come from.

On the packaging, I see it was slaughtered and cut at UK4109 = ABP shrewsbury.

armed with this, I first tried to contact ABP, but got nowhere with that angle - email bounced, phone call unreturned.

So, I contacted Aldi UK.

My questions were specific.

What breed of beast did it come from.
Where it spent its last 90 days prior to slaughter.
And if it had moved where it was previously reared.

Now, fair play to Aldi UK, within an hour of my sending the email, I received a call from their customer services, asking for more detail from the pack, - bar code, so, I gave the chap that. He promised to email me back this week.

Now, all of this was done from my own personal email address and phone.

I have been waiting for a reply.

I got one, but, it didnt come in the way of a call, or a reply to my personal email address, I found it in the spam folder of my TFF address

"Beef was born, reared and slaughtered in the UK.
The supplier is Red Tractor certified.
The supplier did traceability exercise and the breeds used for this production run were: British Blue Cross, Salers, Charolais X, Limousin X, Blonde D Aquitaine, Limousin, British Blue and Simmental.

They have advised that they would be unable to determine which one without sampling and DNA testing but only the ones from the list provided were used for the batch"


So, it did not really answer the questions posed

Infact, it causes more questions than my first contact.

Can you really trace RT meat back to the farm.

Would anyone else care to take up the mantle and do the same, lets see if we really can trace it right back to the farmgate. I fear I have been rumbled in my attempt to discover this.


But, the steak was soo good I bought some more, just to see if it was a one off.

It wasnt, the second was just as good as the first, in fact, the taste was better!

But the label was confusing, it was slaughtered at ABP UK8207 - Sturminster.
It was then cut at both UK9001 - Newry NI & UK4109 Shrewsbury

 

[llamedos]

Oh, and how can you produce such quality meat for so little cost

 

[Danllan]

Very interesting indeed. We have a freezer full of various beef cuts at the moment, but Mrs Danllan still gets the odd bit of beef to fill in for what we have already used. Next time she does I'll have a go, it will be an interesting exercise and, not being a well known high profile internet celeb', I might have a chance of getting to the farm gate...

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

Oh, and how can you produce such quality meat for so little cost

You can't is the simply answer

 

[Danllan]

@llamedos, I am intrigued, do you know how they identified you, URL, industry 'blacklist'* or what?

*which could open a can of worms in itself if so.

 

[Gatehouse Farm]

Hang on I've just realised you're eating steak and poor old @Landyman is out grafting living out of a suitcase and having to eat rabbit food and some dodgy looking crustaceans!

 

[llamedos]

@llamedos, I am intrigued, do you know how they identified you, URL, industry 'blacklist'* or what?

*which could open a can of worms in itself if so.

I have no idea, non at all.
Happy to show anyone via PM copies of my sent mail, and received mail to prove this is the case.

 

[GTB]

I thought it may be interesting to challenge the RT traceability claim 'From Farm to Fork'

So off I went to Aldi as all their meat is RT assured.

I bought an Ashfield Farm branded Sirloin, 100% British Sirloin steak, an 8oz steak for a little over £3

Now, to be perfectly honest, I expected very little, from an eating quality perspective, and given the price...
How wrong I was on that score!

It was beautiful, cooked to perfection, it tasted lovely, it was tender, unlike some vastly more expensive steaks I have bought. It really tasted of Beef.

So, where did it come from.

On the packaging, I see it was slaughtered and cut at UK4109 = ABP shrewsbury.

armed with this, I first tried to contact ABP, but got nowhere with that angle - email bounced, phone call unreturned.

So, I contacted Aldi UK.

My questions were specific.

What breed of beast did it come from.
Where it spent its last 90 days prior to slaughter.
And if it had moved where it was previously reared.

Now, fair play to Aldi UK, within an hour of my sending the email, I received a call from their customer services, asking for more detail from the pack, - bar code, so, I gave the chap that. He promised to email me back this week.

Now, all of this was done from my own personal email address and phone.

I have been waiting for a reply.

I got one, but, it didnt come in the way of a call, or a reply to my personal email address, I found it in the spam folder of my TFF address

"Beef was born, reared and slaughtered in the UK.
The supplier is Red Tractor certified.
The supplier did traceability exercise and the breeds used for this production run were: British Blue Cross, Salers, Charolais X, Limousin X, Blonde D Aquitaine, Limousin, British Blue and Simmental.

They have advised that they would be unable to determine which one without sampling and DNA testing but only the ones from the list provided were used for the batch"


So, it did not really answer the questions posed

Infact, it causes more questions than my first contact.

Can you really trace RT meat back to the farm.

Would anyone else care to take up the mantle and do the same, lets see if we really can trace it right back to the farmgate. I fear I have been rumbled in my attempt to discover this.


But, the steak was soo good I bought some more, just to see if it was a one off.

It wasnt, the second was just as good as the first, in fact, the taste was better!

But the label was confusing, it was slaughtered at ABP UK8207 - Sturminster.
It was then cut at both UK9001 - Newry NI & UK4109 Shrewsbury

You're just too famous Carole they must have put two and two together which makes their response a bit confusing. You would have thought that even if they didn't know exactly where the beast had come from and its breed they could have bluffed and you'd be none the wiser?

 

[llamedos]

Hang on I've just realised you're eating steak and poor old @Landyman is out grafting living out of a suitcase and having to eat rabbit food and some dodgy looking crustaceans!

I am not that awful! the second steak was on Sunday before he left.

 

[milkloss]

I thought it may be interesting to challenge the RT traceability claim 'From Farm to Fork'

So off I went to Aldi as all their meat is RT assured.

I bought an Ashfield Farm branded Sirloin, 100% British Sirloin steak, an 8oz steak for a little over £3

Now, to be perfectly honest, I expected very little, from an eating quality perspective, and given the price...
How wrong I was on that score!

It was beautiful, cooked to perfection, it tasted lovely, it was tender, unlike some vastly more expensive steaks I have bought. It really tasted of Beef.

So, where did it come from.

On the packaging, I see it was slaughtered and cut at UK4109 = ABP shrewsbury.

armed with this, I first tried to contact ABP, but got nowhere with that angle - email bounced, phone call unreturned.

So, I contacted Aldi UK.

My questions were specific.

What breed of beast did it come from.
Where it spent its last 90 days prior to slaughter.
And if it had moved where it was previously reared.

Now, fair play to Aldi UK, within an hour of my sending the email, I received a call from their customer services, asking for more detail from the pack, - bar code, so, I gave the chap that. He promised to email me back this week.

Now, all of this was done from my own personal email address and phone.

I have been waiting for a reply.

I got one, but, it didnt come in the way of a call, or a reply to my personal email address, I found it in the spam folder of my TFF address

"Beef was born, reared and slaughtered in the UK.
The supplier is Red Tractor certified.
The supplier did traceability exercise and the breeds used for this production run were: British Blue Cross, Salers, Charolais X, Limousin X, Blonde D Aquitaine, Limousin, British Blue and Simmental.

They have advised that they would be unable to determine which one without sampling and DNA testing but only the ones from the list provided were used for the batch"


So, it did not really answer the questions posed

Infact, it causes more questions than my first contact.

Can you really trace RT meat back to the farm.

Would anyone else care to take up the mantle and do the same, lets see if we really can trace it right back to the farmgate. I fear I have been rumbled in my attempt to discover this.


But, the steak was soo good I bought some more, just to see if it was a one off.

It wasnt, the second was just as good as the first, in fact, the taste was better!

But the label was confusing, it was slaughtered at ABP UK8207 - Sturminster.
It was then cut at both UK9001 - Newry NI & UK4109 Shrewsbury

I should think anyone asking sensible questions of a supermarket gets some research done on them. They are quite powerful beasts so finding out who you are and quietly exposing you by using a different address wouldn't have been hard.

But it does raise the question that if they can batch slaughter cattle (at least 8 animals above) why can't we use batching and hide behind DNA testing? Would save a lot of time and paperwork.

I think it's unfair and unacceptable imo.

Perhaps it was nice tasting because it was a slice of horse or donkey? Yes, that was intentionally inflammatory!

 

[7610 super q]

And can you trace the grain the animal was fed on back to the farm........

 

[Danllan]

I have no idea, non at all.
Happy to show anyone via PM copies of my sent mail, and received mail to prove this is the case.

No need, not doubting you at all.

But it interests me because, some years ago, I used to volunteer for various things like the CAB and FRU. There were a number of keen young / newly qualified lawyers who also did so and a few were really very 'keen'.

Cases were varied, I had a particular interest in the cases of people with mesothelioma (asbestos related disease), others were minor RTA'a etc. But some were looking at the 'smoking' gun of tobacco use and company liability due to previous, and undisclosed, knowledge of cancer risk.

This group had a reasonable turnover, but most stayed for at least a year or so, and the newbies were often used for correspondence purposes, on the basis that their private details would not be known*; it was remarkable how quickly their names and details were 'known' to the tobacco industry and its affiliates. Meat is big business and I wonder, just wonder, if there is a similar database of 'usual suspects' held by them. That's all.

*I now know, for certain, that some tobacco business affiliates would obtain the names of all law graduates and newly qualified Barristers and Solicitors so that future correspondence could be sieved for them. The practice started in the US...

 

[joe soapy]

Hang on I've just realised you're eating steak and poor old @Landyman is out grafting living out of a suitcase and having to eat rabbit food and some dodgy looking crustaceans!

I bet that after 12 months he will be able to write a good food guide to all the transport cafs within 20 miles of his route

 

[llamedos]

This is what I want to test http://www.redtractor.org.uk/what-we-do/what-does-the-logo-stand-for

As far as I was concerned, all the detail on that package, should have given me via my supplier(Aldi) the means to find exactly where that piece of meat was before going to slaughter at ABP ie lets say @gone up the hill sold his beast to ABPs buyer, ABP then would have the cattle passports for his beast, and know they went through slaughter line xxx at whatever time.

 

[llamedos]

I bet that after 12 months he will be able to write a good food guide to all the transport cafs within 20 miles of his route

I am told the butty wagon on the A683 just off Junc 34 M6 on the Quernmoor side is excellent

 

[joe soapy]

Shop a Phil Warrens Launceston, he has the farmers name on the blackboard behind the counter

And if you send landyman to shop, he can feed at the piestop just over the road

 

[Deereone]

But the label was confusing, it was slaughtered at ABP UK8207 - Sturminster.
It was then cut at both UK9001 - Newry NI & UK4109 Shrewsbury

Is it worth trying to get an answer as to why this should be?

 

[Pasty]

I'm just a lad with a few chickens so I'll have a go. I expect the cartel have read this thread by now and are on full alert though so anyone sending such a question will be fully probed and probably have their wine buying habits made public in the village magazine.

 

[Henarar]

I am not an RT member but I can tell you what farm the last steak I had came from I can also tell you that farm is not an RT member.
I can also tell you what said animals name was, show you a few photos of said animal and its dam and sire
if you want traceability buy your meat from a farmer

 

[kmo]

The supplier did traceability exercise and the breeds used for this production run were: British Blue Cross, Salers, Charolais X, Limousin X, Blonde D Aquitaine, Limousin, British Blue and Simmental.

Be interesting to know what "production run" actually means. Is it the contract tonnage of meat ordered?