Don’t hesitate to talk turkey this Christmas
Whether dining out, or purchasing meat for a Christmas dinner this holiday season, consumers should not be afraid to ask where their meat originated from, according to The Good Food Guide.
The Good Food Guide, which supports locally produced foods, finds it very disappointing that, under the current EU regulations it is not required to provide the country of origin for all meats and poultry. Meats that have been reared in foreign countries can still be labelled as British, as long as the processing takes place in the UK. The reason for this is that shops and manufacturers only have to disclose where the primary ingredient, which is the meat, undergoes a significant change. With most foods, labels are not required by law to reveal the source of the original ingredient unless it would be misleading to the consumer if that information were not included.
If consumers want to be absolutely certain that they will be buying authentic British reared meat and poultry this Christmas season, The Good Food Guide recommends that they buy their meats from a farmers’ market or from a reputable local butcher, and they should not hesitate to ask the vendor to tell them about the origins of the meats that they are buying.
This rule also applies when dining out at a restaurant. When booking a table at a restaurant, it should be perfectly acceptable to ask the restaurant about the source of the meat that is going to be served, and any reputable restaurateur should be happy to share that information with potential customers.
According to The Good Food Guide editor Elizabeth Carter, it is a shame that it is currently not mandatory for shops to label all meats with detailed information about where they are from. However, any shop or restaurant that is serious about the food that they are selling should have absolutely no reservations about disclosing the origin of their meat to their customers.
The Good Food Guide promotes restaurants and pubs that exclusively serve meats that have been reared right in their own backyards. Places that actually rear their own animals for meat include The Mulberry Tree, which is located in Kent and has their own Middle White pigs, or Oxfordshire’s Nut Tree Inn, which owns Gloucester Old Spot-Tamworth pigs. In Hampshire, the Wellington Arms keeps its own hens in its paddocks.
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