My missus is officially tight.

Statistics show that people in the north eat less 'carcass meat' and fresh veg. than any other part of the UK (including Scotland and Wales - Wales has the highlest level of carcass meat eating and Scotland the highest level of fresh veg. consumption). People in the North do, however, eat more 'value added' (ie. processed s**te) meat products and canned / frozen veg. than any other region of the UK.

I actually forgot to reply to the above about the Kievs (not the world's best example - being a 'value added' product) - but Tesco and M&S may source from the same factory, but it doesn't mean the base ingredients or recipe are to the same specification.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to which has the higher meat content and uses freedom food poultry.

'Factories' being the key word here. Which kind of proves my point.

I tend not to eat so-called 'value added' s**te.

Whose statistics?

I know a few chaps who work in a food processing place on the Wirral and it's been enough to make me only buy meat from a proper butcher, as opposed to the butchers who do the job for Tescos etc.

Dearie me. Some of the stories would make your hair curl. Maybe even mine.

As I recall, it was published by the Independent. Don't know their source, though.

Surprising results, really - given the reputation Scotland has. Was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Could kind of predict Wales would have a higher level of carcass meat consumption when we have more sheep in the country than people, but it was still a surprise.

If you are buying supermarket meat, only buy from the butcher's counter.

That stuff is just butchered, vacuum packed, and sent out to be cut up on site.

I generally don't even like buying CAP [1] meat.

Does oral sex count as consumption?

Only if you swallow.

Which part of "North" and "North East" are you talking about?

Suffice to say that if you believe that the base meat is different, you're deluding yourself.

Most of the food you eat is the product of a food factory.

Where do you think M&S, Harrods and other premium brand food comes from? Hell, even a large proportion of the food you eat in restaurants has come from a factory.

Unless you buy your food direct from the farm that grew and slaughtered it, it's been in a factory. And unless you cook and eat it without the use of any sauces, gravy and don't consume any products containing dairy produce then what you eat is the product of a food factory.

What's that got to do with it? What do you think "value added" means?

ROFLMFAO. And you talk about not buying food that comes from a factory? WTF do you think they get their cuts from?

If you'd seen what I've seen, you'd not buy it from there. It comes from the same slaughter houses and meat packers as the vacuum packed stuff does. I've taken hanging meat out of the same loading dock as pallets of pre-packed stuff, sometimes even having a mixed load on the same trailer.

You might as well be buying it from the discount meat wagons that seem to turn up at Car Boot sales and Sunday markets.

Google Dawn Group. They run most of the licenced slaughterhouses in the UK. I believe Dawn Foods still has a factory near Cross Hands in South Wales.

Somehow I doubt you know.

Enlighten us then oh great load carrier.

Bulked out.

Prius.

Whole packaged chickens still aren't 'value added' like chicken kievs, even if they're chucked out the door into wagons at the same factory, regardless if they're Harrods or Iceland branded.

However, unless you're very careful I think it's difficult to get away from meat that has been reared on an industrial production line, and pretty much impossible if one shops in supermarkets.

As both of you are connected with food retail I'm sure the conditions in and scale upon which food is produced in this country has escaped neither of you.

When I worked in a supermarket, the amount of waste at various levels, not just food was probably what disgusted me the most.

RSPCA 'freedom food' standards are a good one to go by - and with stuff like pork, ensure it's 'outdoor reared'.

With fish, looking for stuff that's MSC certified pretty much ensures you're getting it from a safe, sustainable, source.

See above.

We're actually pretty good on most fronts - but watch for products which are branded as 'British', when the meat content has been sourced from generic EU sources - I'm very wary of Dutch pork, for example.

Indeed, and that's one of the things I'm looking at resolving.

Thing is, British product can be from anywhere EU, and as long as it is packed in britain it is british, so how can you know if your British pork is Romanian.