This excellent article makes some good points about the difficulty of eating on a budget:
http://www.northsouthfood.com/food-for-thought/

maybe its better to go into one of those butcher places and buy the real thing?

Of course it is, but that does not detract from the point of being able to trust the ingredients list of anything you decide to buy.

For me its real simple; retailer is responsible for what they sell. End of.

If they sell something that is labelled as beef, for example, and its not then they should be charged – because its basic fraud. Set the fine high enough (per item) and deep enough (ie corporate mis-adventure with Directors in the ‘firing’ line) and they’ll soon ensure that their supply chain is sorted.

For me its real simple; retailer is responsible for what they sell. End of.

If they sell something that is labelled as beef, for example, and its not then they should be charged – because its basic fraud. Set the fine high enough (per item) and deep enough (ie corporate mis-adventure with Directors in the ‘firing’ line) and they’ll soon ensure that their supply chain is sorted.

Well sort of – except they are the victims of fraud also. The retailers and the manufacturers supplying them directly have not interest or desire in supplying mis-labelled goods. Produce has been sold to them that is not as described and there is a major scale fraud happening somewhere further up the chain.

Of course we should be able to have faith in the correct labeling of food with regard to it’s provenance but that entails placing trust in multinationals whose first regard is for their shareholders, perhaps somewhere along the line a token regard is paid to the end consumer but i doubt that is very high up on their moral radar if at all, you just have to look at the constitutional make-up of these products where mechanically recovered meat is transported from one country to the next and onto the next and so on before it finally gets regurgitated into a plastic tray and shipped off to consumers with a scandalous nutritional value contained within it’s plastic exterior.

I don’t trust supermarkets to have my best interests at heart, why should anyone as we live in a capitalist society, you’d have to be pretty gullible to believe that everything they do is for altruistic reasons – they have one overriding concern and that is profit…followed by more profit and that is a sad indictment of where we place our values today, companies will always do the bare minimum and often far less than the bare minimum if they consider they can get away with it. However if they get caught then we need to prosecute, perhaps custodial sentences are necessary and we need to hit them very hard with punitive fines and stripping of assets.

How long before we see a showing of Soylent Green on the TV?.

B R your exactly right..

the tesco lasagne from last night is a great case in point..

the factory in luxembourg has a specification from tesco to use 100% irish beef in thier product.

so cattle/ carcasses are transported from ireland via the irish sea through wales england by road and then across the english channel through france and into luxembourg. made into lasagne and then returned to england/scotland/ wales/NI/Eire by land and sea

frankly thats pathetic. how can that be better or cheaper than production in the uk?

In reply to the grain bit earlier, you would be surprised how easy it is to spot mixed grain in our labs & I don’t doubt “organic” wheat from abroad is not what it says on the wagon, having had a fair bit of dealings over that in the past.

I think you have to be careful over the who is responsible part, yes its the retailer if its a supermarkets own label product.
But the branded stuff is covered by the brand owner, as we don’t make branded stuff everything we make is BRC audited.

frankly thats pathetic. how can that be better or cheaper than production in the uk?

Or if Irish beef, Ireland. Its not like Luxumbourg is a low-cost country to produce anything in – unless there is a ‘tax’ angle I’m unaware of…

look at what Jamie Oliver tried to do to school meals?, perhaps the government will listen to him now instead of serving up frozen meat balls or turkey twizzelers of untraceable origin to kids – that is indefensible in my opinion.

The opposite is actually taking place somafunk. The ever delightful Michael Gove’s flagship policy – granting independence to ‘free schools’ – means they no longer have to adhere the the relatively modest improvements in school food that Mr Oliver managed to shame them into. So Turkey Twizzlers and vending machines full of pop and chocolate are most definitely back on the agenda! After what looks like a minor blip.

And as for food standards improving generally in this country? This is a government that claims that business is stifled by red tape and over regulation, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.

I don’t trust supermarkets to have my best interests at heart, why should anyone as we live in a capitalist society, you’d have to be pretty gullible to believe that everything they do is for altruistic reasons – they have one overriding concern and that is profit…

Have you stopped to consider almost every retailer will have exactly the same motives? Even the purveyors of your vastly overpriced organic root vegetables. Although you have tried to rein yourself in a bit, you are still coming across slightly like a pompous fool.

they have one overriding concern and that is profit…followed by more profit and that is a sad indictment of where we place our values today

I’m not a hunter but i am told,
that, uh, in places like in the arctic,
where indiginous people sometimes might, might, hunt a wolf,
they’ll take a double edged blade,
and they’ll put blood on the blade,
and they’ll melt the ice and stick the handle in the ice,
so that only the blade is protruding,
and that a wolf will smell the blood and wants to eat,
and it will come and lick the blade trying to eat,
and what happens is when the wolf licks the blade,
of course, he cuts his tongue, and he bleeds,
and he thinks he’s really having a good thing,
and he drinks and he licks and he licks,
and of course he is drinking his own blood and he kills himself,
that’s what the Imperialists did with us with processed food,
you have these young brothers out there who think they are getting something
they gonna make a living with,
they is getting something they can eat a lasagne,
like the rich people have lasagne, why can’t i have a lasagne?
they getting something they can get a piece of chicken chasseur,
rich people have chicken chasseur, why can’t i have chicken chasseur?
they getting something to get a crispy pancake,
rich people have crispy pancakes, why can’t i have a crispy pancake?
and they actually think that there’s something that’s bringing resources to them,
but they’re killing themselves just like the wolf was licking the blade,
and they’re slowly dying without knowing it.
that’s what’s happening to the community, you with me on that?
that’s exactly, precisely what happens to the community,
and instead of blaming the hunter who put the damn handle and blade in the ice
for the wolf,
that what happens is the wolf gets the blame, gets the blame for trying to live,
that’s what happens in our community

maybe its better to go into one of those butcher places and buy the real thing?

Do you know what cow versus horse looks like once it’s been slaughtered?
How do you know the local butcher (who lets face it, is probably under more budget restrictions than the supermarket) isn’t sourcing his meat from questionable sources?

I worked in a restaurant for quite a while under a variety of roles. The proprietor wasn’t over fussy where his meat came from. Now I’m not saying he ever said horse was cow (generally because the animals would tend to arrive fully clothed), but we took delivery of more than one cow, calf and deer that arrived under cover of darkness.

check out more good eating at the not right cafe

from brentford high street 1944