https://britishmeatindustry.org/industry/workforce/

Meat processing in the UK employs around 97,000 people of which approximately 62% are EU nationals.  Some producers report workforces of up to 85% EU nationals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50986683

Confessions of a slaughterhouse worker

Published  6 January 2020

Overseas abattoir workers to get temporary visas – BBC News

Overseas abattoir workers to get temporary visas

The (UK) government is to allow 800 foreign abattoir workers into the UK on temporary visas, after warnings from farmers of mass culls.

It previously said businesses should pay higher wages and invest in skills.

The shortage of butchers has already seen farmers destroy 6,600 healthy pigs due to a backlog on farms, the National Pig Association (NPA) said.

The government also announced plans to allow thousands more HGV deliveries to address a chronic driver shortage.

• Labour shortage human disaster for pig farms – NFU
• PM not taking pig cull threat seriously, says vet
• Abattoir labour shortage sees farmer kill piglets

The meat industry blames the butcher shortage on factors including Covid and Brexit.

Thousands of healthy pigs have been culled since last week, when the tally was about 600.

Last week, the National Farmer’s Union (NFU) warned that pig farmers were “facing a human disaster” due to the shortage of butchers.

It said that “empty retail shelves and product shortages are becoming increasingly commonplace and Christmas specialities such as pigs in blankets are already under threat”.

Butcher scheme

The government is temporarily extending its seasonal workers scheme to pork butchers, it said.

Up to 800 pork butchers will be eligible to apply until the end of the year for six-month visas.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “A unique range of pressures on the pig sector over recent months, such as the impacts of the pandemic and its effect on export markets, have led to the temporary package of measures we are announcing.

“This is the result of close working with industry to understand how we can support them through this challenging time.”

The government added that the temporary visas “are not a long term solution and businesses must make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce to build a high-wage, high-skill economy, instead of relying on overseas labour”.

Alongside the temporary visas, the government announced a package of measures for the industry, including:

• Animals being slaughtered and processed on a Saturday
• Longer working days in the meat industry, where possible
• A “private storage aid scheme” which will allow processors to store slaughtered pigs for three to six months
• Suspending nearly £1m of tax on pig farmers and producers in November

It said there had been “a suspension of approval to export to China for some UK pork establishments” and that it was working with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to identify other export markets.

The extension of visa requirements for butchers follows the announcement of temporary visas for lorry drivers and poultry workers, as the government seeks to limit disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

Regards Mark

How The Beef Industry Is Fighting The Plant-Based Protein Boom (plantbasednews.org)

Beef Industry ‘Nervous’ At Growth Of Plant-Based Proteins, Claims Think Tank

Across four key areas, beef companies are working to battle the growing plant-based market to protect their pockets…

The beef industry is becoming increasingly desperate to clutch onto its market position amid the plant-based protein boom. But Faunalytics, a research company specializing in animal advocacy, has examined the industry’s marketing tactics and claims it’s ‘nervous’ of the growth of alternative proteins.

Beef industry

The think tank examined a 2021 report funded by the Beef Checkoff, a US marketing firm that works to promote animal agriculture. In the Impacts of New Plant-Based Protein Alternatives on US Beef Demand report, extensive strategies are outlined to maintain popularity amid increasing concerns about animal rights and the environment.

The report includes a survey on 3,000 US citizens with varying diets and a restaurant and grocery store experiment to assess consumer habits.

Faunalytics looked at the report with a view to ‘gain an advantage’ on what the plant-based industry can do in response. 

What they found is that consumer demand for beef decreases more when prices go up, over when plant-based protein prices decrease.

Furthermore, in a grocery store experiment, consistent beef eaters were more willing to switch to other options if the beef was more expensive.

However, the average customer is more willing to pay a higher price for beef than its actual price. And, a lower price for plant-based proteins than their retail price.

Study takeaways 

“The really fascinating thing about this report,” Faunalytics says, “is what it can tell us about the industry’s strategy.”

The four main tactics it identifies are:

1. Consumers believe beef tastes better and is more ‘natural’

As ever, the beef industry plans to focus on the ‘naturalness’ of beef over plant-based alternatives.

This is carried out by claiming plant-based meat can’t mimic the taste of the real thing, and highlighting long ingredient lists.

Faunalytics also claims that it will continue to focus on how the industry is good for farmers and rural communities.

2. Price is vital

The price parity of plant-based alternatives has long been a hot topic. It is subsidies that make cow meat particularly easy to produce at low costs.

And, according to the report, the beef industry will continue to drive down prices where it can.

‘We should work to amplify the voices of workers and communities harmed by the beef industry’ to fight against this, according to Faunalytics.

3. Beef market share remains high despite growing alt protein

Despite the staggering predictions for the ongoing boom of plant-based protein alternatives, the think tank says the beef industry isn’t worrying ‘too much’ about it denting the market share.

While beef contains more protein than many plant-based alternatives, advocates can respond by painting a better picture of health. This can be done by educating about consumer ‘obsession’ with protein.

4. Partnerships with retailers are important

Beef companies aim to establish relationships with retailers. This means stores and restaurants will have vested interests in the future of animal agriculture, Faunalytics says.

However, it’s a tactic vegan companies can easily follow suit on. And, something the likes of Beyond Meat is already doing with chains like Burger King, McDonald’s, and KFC.

Faunalytics’ concluding statement on the study is: “Even as the beef industry continues to enjoy a large market share, it can see the writing on the wall.

“The industry knows it doesn’t measure up on health, environmental friendliness, or animal welfare. All of which are values important to the younger generation.”

Regards Mark

With thanks to Stacey at ‘Our Compass’ as always;

Eating others is not humane … | Our Compass (our-compass.org)

Regards Mark

Honestly, folks, literally TRILLIONS of animals are butchered yearly, why do people actually believe that such a incredibly large number of animals can be killed in a peaceful, ethical manner? ALL killing is unethical, but people love to pretend that the animals they consume were “produced” in caring and nurturing environments. Come on, this is what “intellectually superior” humans believe? The industry is based on DEATH, thus NOBODY cares about animals who are controlled, mutilated, violated, and violently killed. Wake up, people, you’re being taken advantage of by slick PR and deceptive advertising.

NOT harming is better than HARMING. If you harm animals, you don’t care for them, regardless of the labels on dismembered, violently killed animal body parts. SL

WAV Comment – well said Stacey !

Source SURGE

Go into a supermarket and you’ll see labels like these plastered all over the meat, dairy and egg products that we buy.

Company names like the Happy Egg Co. A company that advertises their products with images of chickens in lush green fields, even though an investigation in 2021 into three farms that supply them eggs revealed that the hens were packed in industrial sheds, their beaks had been cut off and there were dead birds rotting on the floor. 

So just a little different to the imagery the company uses to sell their products.

In fact, even when we look at free-range as an industry-wide standard, free-range farmers can legally house 16,000 birds in a barn, which means they can house 9 birds per square metre of space, which gives each hen 11 square centimetres of space each inside the barns. Not exactly the image of being ‘free’ that you would expect.The Happy Egg Co and the term free-range are both examples of humane washing. But wait, what is humane washing? Well to understand what humane washing is, let’s first look at greenwashing.

In recent years, some of the biggest food corporations in the world, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s, have ditched plastic straws in response to growing public concern about their impact on the environment. Great news, right?

Well, not exactly. This is an example of greenwashing, a term that describes a form of marketing and PR which aims to persuade the public that an organisation is environmentally friendly, even when their wider actions show the opposite. 

In the case of the plastic straw, the strawless lid that Starbucks introduced to replace the straw actually contains more plastic than the original lid and straw combo did. And McDonald’s, well where do we even begin? Selling food that is linked to rainforest deforestation is probably a good place, not to mention the fact that they don’t recycle their new straws and the drinks still come in the same plastic-lined cups as their old plastic straws did. 

The meat, dairy and egg industries also regularly greenwash their products as well. For example, Danish Crown, the largest meat producer in Europe, have created their own sustainability certification which the farmers who are suppliers for them have then signed up to, and as a result the pork products they sell now come with a sticker that says they are ‘climate controlled’.

Continued on next page.

Prince Charles Reduces Meat Intake, Talks Ending Factory Farming (plantbasednews.org)

Prince Charles Talks Reducing Meat Intake, Ending Factory Farming, And Greta Thunberg

The Prince of Wales highlights what we must do to help mitigate the climate crisis and create more ‘harmony’ in nature…

Prince Charles has revealed he’s stopped eating meat and fish for two days a week, and has so ‘for years’. He made the remarks in a major interview with the BBC, where he discussed environmentalism and deplored intensive animal agriculture, industrial fishing, and deforestation.

Princes Charles interview

When asked about how he felt about his grandchildren inheriting the world in its current state, HRH replied that he was ‘deeply worried’.

Speaking on The Big Interviews, which aired today, he said: “I’ve always felt that we are overexploiting and damaging nature by not understanding how much we depend on everything that nature provides and somehow not understanding or being trained to believe that nature is a separate thing from us.

“And, that we can just exploit and control and suppress everything about it without suffering the consequences.”

Humans’ disruption on the planet is ‘mammoth’, he adds.

And it’s because of this that he has changed his diet. ‘For years’ he has limited his meat and fish intake, taking two days off. And one day a week, he doesn’t eat dairy.

Moreover, if more people did the same, pressure on the environment would be greatly reduced, he said.

“…The business of what we eat of course is important.” 

Climate activism

And when asked about his views on Greta Thunberg, he said he’s always been thinking about the next generation. 

Across history, ‘nobody would address the issues’, he said. But upon meeting her, he says he shared her anger: “They see their future being totally destroyed… People should notice how despairing young people are.”

Further, when pressed on Extinction Rebellion, despite commending their efforts, he noted that activism isn’t ‘helpful’ when ‘done in a way that alienates people’.

“The difficulty is how do you direct that frustration in a way that is more constructive rather than destructive.”

Carbon footprint

On personal impacts on the environment, Prince Charles was reminded of his own carbon footprint: the heating of the royal family’s palaces cited as an example.

“The more we disrupt it the more impossible it is.”

Prince Charles

And, on whether people should reduce the amount they fly and their meat intake, Prince Charles responds: “Flying, hopefully, will become easier and more sustainable.”

Collective pressures are being made to help boost sustainable actions in the private sector, he notes. Here, there are trillions of dollars available, he says.

Charles also spoke about where animal products are sourced, advocating for grass-fed ‘quality’ meat over industrial farming.

He also brought the conversation round to ‘endless perverse’ subsidies in industrial fishing and intensive animal agriculture industries. This is ‘crazy’, he says and has led to scaling emissions.

On COP26 in particular, he hopes to ‘unlock’ vast investment and opportunities in the wake of COP26, to approach a more sustainable economy. “It’s a last chance saloon,” he says. 

The alternative? “It will be catastrophic, it’s already starting to be catastrophic because nothing in nature can survive the stress that is created by these extremes of weather…The more we disrupt it the more impossible it is.”

Regards Mark