Shock !! Horror !!
Meat Starts Life as a Baby Animal !!!
Well done, Eastfield Primary School in Leicestershire, I say. For those whom this piece of news has passed by, here it is.
The pupils of this school raise piglets to pork. They feed them, cuddle
them, and when the time comes, make them into sausages. Then, they eat them.
"This is horrific," say some parents.
"This is reality,"
says the school.
"They are delicious," say the pupils.
This practice is to continue. Hurrah!
We know this, even if we are in denial about it, but surely as consumers, what we want to know is that what we are eating has had a good life. We want to know that its production has contributed to, rather than destroy the environment. I want to know that it is local. These are the criteria to which members of the Purbeck Products producers group sign up.
The problem with constantly buying meat from the supermarket is that we have divorced the food from its production. Lamb is not just a chunk of meat or a chop; it is or has been a cute cuddly animal. Its mother has cropped the grass, been part of and created the environment we love to look at, drive through and walk over. The chicken we eat started life as a fluffy chick, the beef was a baby calf and the pork was a pink cute little piglet.
We know this, even if we are in denial about it, but surely as consumers, what
we want to know is that what we are eating has had a good life. We want to
know that its production has contributed to, rather than destroy the environment.
I want to know that it is local. These are the criteria to which members of
the Purbeck Products producers group sign up.
Sadly, because of the asinine rules surrounding beef labelling, a beef producer cannot put any of these statements on his label without falling foul of the rules on "The Beef Labelling Scheme." If you would like to be bored for an hour, please ask me about this scheme. However, if you buy your beef from a Purbeck Products producer, you can be sure of its welfare and environmentally friendly status.
So Hurrah for the schools that teach pupils where their food comes from, Hurrah
for Purbeck Products that enables us to buy local food with confidence and
Hurrah for the rules that enable supermarkets and butchers to know from where
the meat they sell comes. It's your right to know this too. Just ask and if
you are not satisfied with the answer....
....leave the stuff at the check out.
[ Editor's note: to see two contrasting presentations about the experience
of food production gained by the pupils of Eastfield Primary School - and for
that matter how some parents prefer children to be insulated from reality -
click below to read articles in:
◊ "The Sun"
◊
"The Daily Express" ]
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