Monday 16 February 2009

Conservatives say: Where's the (British) Beef.

Did you know that beef raised abroad and then processed and packaged here can be labeled British Beef? Or that "outdoor bred" pork comes from pigs that are raised in indoor pens? It's all a play on words, the sows are impregnated outdoors and that is where it ends.

This afternoon the Conservatives will launch a campaign to stamp out misleading "British" labels. Shadow environment secretary, Nick Herbert will say:
"For a decade Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has promised to clamp down on misleading information, and leading supermarkets gave a commitment in a voluntary code that they would not sell imported meat processed in the UK under a British label. "Yet poor labelling persists. "People have a right to know where their food comes from. Meat labelled British should be born and bred in Britain, raised to our high welfare standards. "Other EU countries fight for the interests of their consumers and their farming industry within the trading rules. It's time for the British government to show the same spine."
Not only that, there's a video to accompany the launch:

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a fairflags campaign going on. people are demanding English produce flies the English flag. scotland and wales have ditched the union flag on their produce and so should England.
trust the tories to get it wrong.

Chris said...

Ridiculous! We want English flags on English produce. Also, what's this about "other countries"? Britain is not a country - it's a (so-called) UNION of countries! Are the Tories a little on the dim side?

Daily Referendum said...

Oh dear. If you two took two sugars in your tea, and I offered you a cup with one sugar, no doubt you would tell me to stick it up my arse.

William Gruff said...

Br*tish means nothing. I buy English and avoid as much as possible anything with the 'union' flag on it.

Chris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris said...

I would never say such a thing to you in the usual course of things(LOL). But if you offered me a Union Flag or a a newspaper article about David Cameron filled with guff about "Britishness" and his family and "the Scottish Empire" I might just.

William Gruff said...

Steve that's unworthy. The supermarkets are stuffed with produce bearing the name and flag of every country in Europe, and even the county of Cornwall, but 'England' (or 'English') and the CoSG are a rare sight indeed. Local supermarkets even boast that they are proud to support Scotch farmers. It's got to stop but it won't all the while English shoppers keep swallowing the Br*tish line.

Your loyalty to your party is commendable but Cameron is flogging a dead horse (again) with this one.

Anonymous said...

As a farmer I am not impressed by the flags, the politicians' posturings or the supermarkets....
If you stick a label on a product that says 'British' it has to mean the animal was f***ed in Britain, produced its offspring in Britain and only the produce from those animals can be British. End of.