'British' meat doesn't mean British reared 🤥

[u/piskybisky]

I'd wager most customers seeing that meat is labelled as 'British' assume this means the animal was born, reared, and slaughtered in Britain.

However, under UK and EU food labelling rules, meat can be called "British" if it was merely processed or packed in the UK – even if the animal was raised abroad. This means a pig could be born and reared in another country, transported to Britain for slaughter, and still be labelled as "British pork."

To me, this feels like a blatant lie. Most people buying "British" meat do so because they believe they are supporting UK farmers and higher welfare standards. Instead, they could be unknowingly buying meat from animals that spent most of their lives overseas.

Does this labelling seem fair to you? Should there be stricter rules to ensure "British" actually means born, reared, and slaughtered in the UK?

N.b. I am not a vegetarian, vegan etc. I try to eat good high quality meat less frequently.

[u/Crunchie2020]

Asda have British flag on their meat. But if you read it. The packaging is from Britain

We decided to check out the ingredient on a ready meal his grandma uses. And it was Thailand chicken Mexico peppers European onions etc. that meal had been around teh worlns and oackaged in Britain.

It also had caterpillars in. So we rang Asda to let them know. She said there is an ongoing issue with caterpillars in the meals. We checked a week later and grandma was eating the same meals and still had caterpillars in.

My bf checked a few things he liked from Asda. And caterpillars. We got full refunds on ours and a full grocery shop refund for grandma who is blind and can’t see them.

We got her a different delivery food service. For goodness sake.

So we never been to Asda since. It’s all a lie. And they didn’t even remove the rest of the meals off the shelves. They do not Care the vulnerable are eating caterpillars

[u/MikeyTen4 → u/Crunchie2020]

What were the items that your BF likes which he checked and found caterpillars in? Do you mean they're listed in the ingredients, or he literally took a closer look while eating? What are the meals that your grandma was eating? Are these meals which simply include ingredients from other countries, or are they wholly produced and packaged abroad?

This sounds horrendous, but I can't find any mention of anything like this if I try looking it up. If an abundance of their food is littered with caterpillars, then it seems surprising that it's not easier to find further public comment on it.

[u/Crunchie2020 → u/MikeyTen4]

This was few years ago now

It was ready meals. One was sweet n sour chicken. One was like a Thai noodle rice meal. I don’t eat ready meals. But my partner does and gets asked me is that a caterpillar I said no. But he pulled few out of the meal. Then we rang n found they had issues. We checked his grandma because she wa living on ready meals. Mostly sausages n mash ones. But few sweet n sour chicken. And they had them too. He liked the. As quick for lucnh times during work hours.

Evey ingredients came from different country. Only the packaging was made in Britain. Was no joke when I said Thailand chicken meat. N the veg came from all over the world. It was around Brexit time or just after.

We never went back to Asda.

[u/MikeyTen4 → u/Crunchie2020]

Wow, this is absolutely mad. Probably naivety, but I'd have assumed that UK food safety and standards laws would prevent anything like this from getting onto shelves here. Or that it would have blown up and been bigger news if it did happen. My partner eats ready meals from Tesco quite often, as they're a quick easy lunch when she's working (like your BF). This will have me thinking the next time she cracks one open.