This is heartening

[rick]

RSPCA reports KFC signing up -
"We're 'thrilled' as KFC commits to improving chicken welfare"
https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/latest/blogs/details/-/articleName/rspca-thrilled-as-kfc-commits-to-improving-chicken-welfare?utm_source=Buzz&utm_medium=email&utm_content=news_text&utm_campaign=Buzz%20July%20week%207/

Both from the point of view of the supplier and the reported expectations of consumers that they are reacting to (otherwise they wouldn't be doing it.)

 

[Marigold]

That's excellent news, Rick. A step on the way - but It's still better to buy organic chicken if possible, though, as standard are higher. Even the new minimum standards are pretty poor, compared with organic, let alone what we all provide for our lovely birds.

 

[Shadrach]

I stopped eating any shop bought or restaurant chicken many years ago.
I do eat a chicken from the tribes here occasionally.
My meat consumption in general is very low.

 

[Hen-Gen]

That all important word is “provenance”. Over the last three days I have eaten a leg of lamb (roast lamb, cold lamb salad and shepherds pie). Because I know it was humanely reared, by me, and killed quickly and mercifully I was happy to do so. Equally I’m happy with my own eggs.
Killed a bullock three months ago but due to a broken freezer we had to sell all of it. But had I kept a half then I would have been equally happy to eat it because I know it had three years roaming in the fields with its herd mates.
Obviously I’m in an environment where I can do this but we can all buy respectfully. I’m currently looking at salmon and the pollution related to their intensive production. Fortunately mussels and oyster and most sea fish are relatively clean and green.
But we should never forget plant production. As far as we know plants are not sentient but the desecration associated with crop production is very serious ranging from habitat destruction (palm oil and orangutans) to fertiliser run off and the destruction of aquatic wild life.
Conversely we have to recognise that by nature of our very existence we are consumers on a scale never seen before on our planet. Whatever adjustments we make it is doubtful we can ever feed nd meet the energy needs of 7 billion people. But humanity to animals is both the right thing to do and spiritually enriching to ourselves. On my table as I write this is a half read book called Buddhism and Ecology. Perhaps my thoughts have been activated by reading this!

 

[rick]

Couldn't agree more all round. But we are an unusual bunch! (on the cutting edge of chicken welfare.) The numbers always send me reeling - 1 billion broilers in the supply chain, living for 10 weeks maybe? so something like 4 or 5 billion a year going through.
What will be annoying is the inevitable idyllic scenes of chickens dancing merrily across daisy strewn grass that will be appearing in KFC advertising - but I guess that is all part of the change in public expectations.

 

[Shadrach]

Couldn't agree more all round. But we are an unusual bunch! (on the cutting edge of chicken welfare.) The numbers always send me reeling - 1 billion broilers in the supply chain, living for 10 weeks maybe? so something like 4 or 5 billion a year going through.
What will be annoying is the inevitable idyllic scenes of chickens dancing merrily across daisy strewn grass that will be appearing in KFC advertising - but I guess that is all part of the change in public expectations.

I don't think the people who write the marketing bullshit have ever seen a live chicken. :roll:

 

[Marigold]

Couldn't agree more all round. But we are an unusual bunch! (on the cutting edge of chicken welfare.) The numbers always send me reeling - 1 billion broilers in the supply chain, living for 10 weeks maybe? so something like 4 or 5 billion a year going through.
What will be annoying is the inevitable idyllic scenes of chickens dancing merrily across daisy strewn grass that will be appearing in KFC advertising - but I guess that is all part of the change in public expectations.

I don't think the people who write the marketing bullshit have ever seen a live chicken. :roll:

MOST people, especially children, have never seen a live chicken, at least up close.

 

[Shadrach]

Couldn't agree more all round. But we are an unusual bunch! (on the cutting edge of chicken welfare.) The numbers always send me reeling - 1 billion broilers in the supply chain, living for 10 weeks maybe? so something like 4 or 5 billion a year going through.
What will be annoying is the inevitable idyllic scenes of chickens dancing merrily across daisy strewn grass that will be appearing in KFC advertising - but I guess that is all part of the change in public expectations.

I don't think the people who write the marketing bullshit have ever seen a live chicken. :roll:

MOST people, especially children, have never seen a live chicken, at least up close.

A lot of people where I live keep chickens and have done for generations. Almost all on the mountain I live on keep free range chickens, usually the local breed (The Catalana del Pratt) or Minorcan Blacks.
Most of the flocks are semi feral and many roost in the trees, or in farm buildings.
Fortunately the whole hatchery/breeder business doesn't feature here so many of the flocks are direct descendants of the healthy genetics that have survived here over the years. I don't know of anyone here who would set foot in KFC.

 

[bigyetiman]

I eat a lot more meat than OH, but like Hen-Gen we know where ours comes from, our neighbour, and we do know how it has led it's life. God knows how the meat in the fast food industry had been reared, and even if it is from the animal specified.
Our neighbour breeds Dexter cattle which are a smallish breed and someone asked her once if they were goats as they were too small to be cows, and why was her chicken so big, pointing at Charlie the goose. really proves your point Rick.
I think KFC's idea of being more responsible, will vastly differ from ours.
On a slightly different tack, brought some strawberries yesterday in Tesco (the squirrels ate ours before they were ripe).Grown in Kent, looked on the back and they were packed in Republic of Ireland then distributed from their Welyn Garden City distribution centre, and then delivered to Essex.

 

[LadyA]

On a slightly different tack, brought some strawberries yesterday in Tesco (the squirrels ate ours before they were ripe).Grown in Kent, looked on the back and they were packed in Republic of Ireland then distributed from their Welyn Garden City distribution centre, and then delivered to Essex.

This. This is what I hate about the food industry! How can it be so cheap to do all this shunting berries all over the map? And then they bang on about all they're doing to "reduce their carbon footprint"! Last Summer, I nearly had apoplexy in Tesco one day, on finding that they had green beans for sale for 49c. Those ones were imported from Kenya. They also had British green beans, as they were in season. Those ones were over €1, for the same amount.

 

[chrismahon]

Unfortunately Rick, UK broiler chickens only live for 5 ½ weeks (export vet told me), basically sitting near a feeder and drinker because moving too much will result in broken leg bones- the body weight growth exceeds the skeleton growth. I drove past ours yesterday to see them flying about and dust bathing under the bushes, but they only live for 12 weeks. The difference in taste and particularly texture of the meat is very noticeable and many people wouldn't take to it.

Pesticide runoff into the drinking water is a big problem here. Our water contains pesticides, is loaded with Chlorine and is officially classed as 'mediocre', tastes horrible and so we don't drink it. Unfortunately that then leads to 100x 5 litre plastic water containers each year going for recycling. But the reality is here they only recycle 9% of the plastic, the rest fuels one of 17 small power stations burning the stuff.

Everyone here with a garden grows vegetables and some people have small corners of fields they grow veg in. Supermarket veg here is often sourced locally, but the best stuff comes from the town markets which are very popular here even though the veg is more expensive than the supermarkets. Even our neighbour has a 'potager' which they created as a raised bed on an area of concrete, because that is the only space they have. A dozen tomato plants has filled it.

 

[Shadrach]

Unfortunately Rick, UK broiler chickens only live for 5 ½ weeks (export vet told me), basically sitting near a feeder and drinker because moving too much will result in broken leg bones- the body weight growth exceeds the skeleton growth. I drove past ours yesterday to see them flying about and dust bathing under the bushes, but they only live for 12 weeks. The difference in taste and particularly texture of the meat is very noticeable and many people wouldn't take to it.

You need to leave chickens in the fridge for a couple of days here before cooking. The meat doesn't taste anything like shop bought.
Even the cockerels killed at three to four months wouldn't make for quick fry chicken.

 

[bigyetiman]

Also new a farmer that grew organic sprouts for Tesco in Norfolk, they were then shipped to Poland for packaging. Same thing here Lady A, foreign veg are cheaper than UK grown ones. Luckily we are able to grow our own.
There were some boxes of blackberries in the supermarket the other day, obviously grown under glass/plastic. £1 for a tiny box. For God's sake wait a month then go and get them for free. Still in a society where people buy grated cheese, boiled eggs and mashed potato, that won't happen too soon.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Boiled eggs! Now that one I haven’t seen.
New Zealand lamb is cheaper than Scottish lamb. Sometimes such disparities are due to climate and sometimes just more efficient production processes. I’ve no doubt that the raspberry packaging staff in Poland are paid a fraction of what the UK workers are. Hopefully as equality spreads across the world then transport costs will become a defining factor in marketing.

 

[LadyA]

Oh yes, Hen Gen. I've seen peeled, boiled eggs for sale. And melon, ready cut in slices. I worked out that you could buy a whole large watermelon for what they were charging for 3 slices, wrapped in plastic.

 

[rick]

yude tamago anyone? Obviously not as a snack - woe betide anyone peeling it in the street and dropping any shell!

 

[bigyetiman]

Much more fancy packaging Rick than our shops ones. Sliced apple and pineapple Lady A, and shredded lettuce and cabbage. Diced vegetable to put in a stew.
That's what we hope Hen-Gen that once wages rise in Europe, it wont be as cost efficient to send stuff there to be packaged. Then again they will probably send it to Africa.

 

[Marigold]

There were some boxes of blackberries in the supermarket the other day, obviously grown under glass/plastic. £1 for a tiny box. For God's sake wait a month then go and get them for free.

The ones you buy are from cultivated varieties which don't taste anything like real blackberries. 2019 should be a good year for them here - we had enough rain to enable good flowering, unlike the early drought last year, where many of the flowers shrivelled on the stems.

 

[Margaid]

I have to confess to buying melon and mango in small boxes. There's something wrong with my fridge and if I buy a whole melon it will go "off" before I eat it. Same with salad leaves. I can't eat my way through three of four different lettuces quickly enough - my own aren't ready yet, but I do have one small sugar snap pea on the plants!!

 

[bigyetiman]

If you live alone, or you are the only one who likes a particular, the little packs of fruit are brilliant. A whole water melon would take a while to get through. The packs are also handy for people like our neighbour who has trouble gripping a knife and cutting anything hard, like pineapple.
Hope you get more than one sugar snap pea.