Animal Wellfare

[wraymond]

My youthful flight in 1960 south in pursuit of a job, any job, gave me entry into the Meat Trade and enthusiasm I didn’t realise I had. It also pushed me into public health studies related to farming and butchery.

That’s not the butchery of farming, but in-depth study of the combined functions of the two related fields. With that instilled and taking root, the thought now of UK food and agricultural standards being lowered for the sole purpose of importing food from any other source is, well, suicidal.

If ‘they’ want to buy our stuff, that’s great but, it’s ‘our’ stuff and we should trumpet that high standard to potential buyers as a golden asset. If they want their own stuff let them buy it from themselves.

There should be no dumping of food standards, especially in the wake of a national obesity plague on top of everything else. There must be something in the water that makes this even thinkable.

[operamagorum]

Done
Cheers
Geoff

[coolcat]

The reply I received from my local MP ......

Thank you for your email.

There has been a great deal of speculation about what may or may not be included in future trade deals, most of which is unsubstantiated scare mongering. Rather than engage with hypotheticals, I have decided to allow the negotiators to conclude their work and then carefully scrutinise any new trade deal, before taking a position on whether or not to support it.

Be assured, any finalised trade deal that undermines animal welfare, the environment, food safety standards, or indeed that has any other detrimental impact, would certainly have a tough time making it past myself and my colleagues. You may be aware that since being elected animal welfare has been one of my priorities, and I do not believe that we have to sacrifice our environmental or food standards to secure a good deal.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

With best wishes,

Giles

Giles Watling MP

[edwardmk]

There is something very wrong about the economics of us needing to buy so much food from abroad. Long supply chains use a lot of fuel and which isn't very green as well as being strategically unwise. Covid 19 has reminded us all of the folly of being heavily dependent on other nations for critical supplies. People don't need a trade deal to trade, they just need politicians to get out of the way. For trade deal I just think 'negotiations about how much extra tax we politicians can get away with sticking to the traders'. Their real issue is 'NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD- for tat'. If one side slaps on a tariff and the other side does nothing, that tariff is a 'win' for the taxing jurisdiction and 'lose' for those being taxed. However, no-one likes to be a loser, so pretty quickly the other side retaliates with their own tariff. Then in political 'la la land', if they both agree to each others' tariffs, they believe they've negotiated a win- win. The administrations then trumpet their new amazing trade deal. In reality, the consumers on both sides lose and the only winners are the administrations who collect lots of extra tax revenues at the expense of their long suffering subjects. We must support our local industries in farming, fishing and manufacturing wherever we can, and not buy chlorinated chicken ever.

[mileshawk56]

I remember a Tesco TV advert years ago and it featured Dudley (? the little chap- Moore?) anyway he was the chap that putting lots of effort to get the best chicken for Tesco's customers, and he got it from Italy!!! I only buy food from UK processed in UK and if its England thats what I choose. I wouldnt buy meat/food from USA or anywhere that distance away. However that doesnt mean Im sold on UK/EU standards being better than USA - Its not easy to find but examination of the different standards comes down to "ours are different so better" And the Yanks chicken isnt washed in chlorine, the wash has chlorine added to it. And the British chicken is washed in water(which is chlorinated?) and blown with with air in the process. Its interesting but time consuming to find out what the different standards actually are. Im a strong supporter of British farming and farmers inspite of the fact the farmer near me has "support British Farming" stickers in the back of his Fiat car, and he has Fiat tractors. Chris.S.

[AndyN01]

And here's the reply from my MP


Thank you for contacting me about the Agriculture Bill and farm animal welfare. Tamworth is surrounded by farms, crop production, dairy and of course what Tamworth is famous for, pig farms. Ensuring our agriculture industry grows, stays environmentally sustainable and promotes good practice is incredibly important. I meet regularly with the NFU and put forward farmers concerns to DEFRA and other Departments.

This Bill will allow ambitious new land management schemes to be introduced in England, based on the principle of public money for public goods. This means that farmers and land managers who protect our environment, improve animal welfare and produce high quality food in a more sustainable way can be rewarded. The Bill will help farmers to stay competitive, with measures to increase productivity and to invest in new technology. I am pleased that transparency in the supply chain will also be improved to help food producers strengthen their position at the farm gate and seek a fairer return from the marketplace.

British consumers want high welfare produce, and if our trading partners want to break into the United Kingdom market, they should expect to meet those standards. The manifesto I stood on was clear that in all trade negotiations, our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards will not be compromised. The Government will stand firm in trade negotiations to ensure any deals live up to the values of our farmers and consumers.

I am pleased that all food coming into this country will be required to meet existing import requirements. I know that at the end of the transition period the Withdrawal Act will convert all European Union standards into domestic law. This includes a ban on using artificial growth hormones in both domestic and imported products and nothing apart from potable water may be used to clean chicken carcasses. Any changes to these standards would have to come before parliament.

The Government has committed to a serious and rapid examination of what could be done through labelling in the United Kingdom market to promote high standards and high welfare goods. Any scheme could not be devised until we have competed the transition period and would need to recognise World Trade Organisation (WTO) obligations.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

[planenut]

I have been pleased that I can buy a whole chicken for £3, I can buy two pints of milk for under a pound, a large meat pie cheaply, but it is not logical, how can the producers earn a living?

I understand how most things are farmed but there are many uses of chemicals to enhance or inhibit growth. Imported bananas are sprayed with chemicals to give the suppliers the ability to control ripening.

I will more than likely still go on buying these things, but according to the world of "Soylent Green", 2022 is the year to fear.

[edwardmk]

Originally Posted by planenut

I have been pleased that I can buy a whole chicken for £3, I can buy two pints of milk for under a pound, a large meat pie cheaply, but it is not logical, how can the producers earn a living?

I understand how most things are farmed but there are many uses of chemicals to enhance or inhibit growth. Imported bananas are sprayed with chemicals to give the suppliers the ability to control ripening.

I will more than likely still go on buying these things, but according to the world of "Soylent Green", 2022 is the year to fear.

That was a brilliant film. I had the pleasure of watching Charlton Heston in a live performance of ' A man for all seasons.' in Aberdeen (1988). Good actor with great stage presence. 2022 must have seemed a long way off in 1973 when Soylent Green was released

[trikey]

Originally Posted by coolcat

The reply I received from my local MP ......

Thank you for your email.

There has been a great deal of speculation about what may or may not be included in future trade deals, most of which is unsubstantiated scare mongering. Rather than engage with hypotheticals, I have decided to allow the negotiators to conclude their work and then carefully scrutinise any new trade deal, before taking a position on whether or not to support it.

Be assured, any finalised trade deal that undermines animal welfare, the environment, food safety standards, or indeed that has any other detrimental impact, would certainly have a tough time making it past myself and my colleagues. You may be aware that since being elected animal welfare has been one of my priorities, and I do not believe that we have to sacrifice our environmental or food standards to secure a good deal.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

With best wishes,

Giles

Giles Watling MP

At least you got a reply from your MP!