https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/deut...-in-der-kritik

https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/st...ritik-19819797

Shocking treatment of animals in southern Germany used for meat products sold in Switzerland under the brand Bell.

The video contains disturbing scenes.

Sad truth is that unless you are buying from your local farmer, who knows what goes on...

If you ever needed a push to stop eating meat or just see what goes on, look up the documentary called "Dominion" .. I won't link it, it's pretty grim viewing.


*I'm an omnivore

As are we. However the video was shocking and upsetting. I have bought meat products from Bell and feel guilty now for doing so and seeing the article made me decide that I will not buy that brand again.

Seeing how the animals were treated, stunned, their necks caught in the doors and reading that turkeys are thrown live into the shredders nearly made me pass out.

I strongly suggest that you don't watch dominion then.

The shredder was actually a surprise for me, I didn't know that was used.. Seeing a conveyer belt of thousands of just hatched male chickens going straight to the shredder.. grim.

And you think you know what goes on on a local farm...

Not all farms have cruelty to animals on their agenda.

But, if you buy meat (especially) poultry products from a supplier where the meat origins are somewhere in Eastern Europe (or further away such as Brazil which is the case with Migros), then I think you could be pretty sure to know that cruelty was involved as animal welfare standards simply do not match those of Western Europe.

Also, don't assume that because a food company is large, it gets supplied from farms with dubious practices.

It is an improvement, in the not to long ago past we just threw them in the garbage while they still lived.

Well around where I live I can at least see the chickens running around the fields, I can walk over and touch the cows and I can see that they are not waist deep in their own filth..

I'm still gonna eat them later but it seems better at least.

It's all about the price point.. I'm sure you notice when COOP etc have a special on beef for example, half the normal price, you'll see on the label that it's from Uruguay or something.

I read about this recently and, grim as it sounds, it’s the most humane way to kill male chicks. Takes a fraction of a second in a high speed shredder as opposed to other methods of gassing, etc. it’s the harsh reality of mass meat production.

As a person that eats meat, we should be aware and this topic has been much highlighted. But what to do is not so obvious... (plants are also not the most ethically mass produced..)

Intersting read here taken from the book Sapien:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...hical-question

Yes. I interviewed my local farmer. I wanted to meet her animals and enquirer as to how they were fed. All of their crops are used to feed the animals. They slaughter around 40 pigs and 20 cows a year. She let me meet them and they are happy animals.

She had since become a very good friend. She can butcher specifically for me and I get bones or chicken carcasses for my weekly stock. She also makes bacon the way I like it. I recently told her that we were trying to eat less meat and more veggies, which she encouraged. I get my fruit and veg 1km down the road from my meat farmer at a local veg farm. As local as I can get. Zug/Cham/Hunenberg/Sins if anyone wants to know.

So, I encourage you, get to know your local farmer.

Do what is meaningful, not what is expedient.

__________________
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

Sounds fantastic - what sort of prices are involved?

I confess to buying most of our meat in France (which is the nearest supermarket to us anyway) where it's sooo much cheaper, and where production standards are good, especially with Label Rouge products, which we always insist on for eggs and chicken, and prefer for pork if possible (beef production is hormone and cruelty free anyway). But I'd gladly buy local, ethically-treated, Swiss meat if they could come close on the price front.

We are a family of four. I’d say I spend about 120-150 a week on meat and 100 a week on veg. So usually around 250 a week. This means 2 fresh chickens, eggs, cured meats, pork neck, brisket or silverside, chops, bacon etc. I also get bones and make 3-4 lt of stock a week.

I’m super conscious of what I eat and the veg includes for eating , fermenting and juicing.

I’ve never felt so good about what I eat and as a result of how I eat.

Price per kilo is what I was looking for, particularly for chicken and steak. Just interested in the concept of how far (sic) local production can go in reducing costs.

Yes, as it's visible from the street.

Tom

Isn't reducing costs what gets us all this abuse in the first place?

How about if you want good and wholesale meat produced without undue cruelty, then you man up and pay for it.

How can you even expect some small farmer treating his animals well to compete price-wise with a corporate factory farm?

I didn't say I expected it, just curious to know how much can be saved by going direct to the producer like this. And not to compare with mass-produced product, but with similarly well controlled production that has to go through the whole supply chain.

....and people here think that Halal practices or traditional farming are cruel...

Of course, because if it happens in a factory like animal farm and they wear gloves and plastic overalls everything is done in a humane way. Right. And everything is "hygienic" und so weiter und so fort.

This is how your food is grown and comes from. Has always come from as I suspect the standards have improved in time...Get used with the idea or grow your own animals.

I can get back to you on that. I have a few items in the fridge and will check. To be honest price per weight has never been my driver.

Happy Meat

Produced locally (if you live in Romandie), less waste, ethical production (check the supplier bio's)