Protests over Tesco's Brazilian beef
Steve Dube, Western Mail
Sep 19 2006
UK
FARMERS from Wales, Scotland and Ireland issued a challenge to Tesco as they picketed the supermarket giant's Extra store in Cardiff last week.
They called on the company to prove that the beef it imports from Brazil is fit to eat, and does not harm the environment or enslave farm workers in the way it is produced.
More than 70 members of the Farmers' Union of Wales and the Fairness for Farmers in Europe (FFE) group lobbied shoppers arriving at Tesco Extra off Western Avenue in Cardiff on Thursday, carrying banners and handing out leaflets asking customers to question Tesco's beef purchasing policy.
FUW deputy president Emyr Jones said Welsh and other European farmers had to comply with stringent animal welfare, environmental and employment conditions to produce top quality beef, lamb and dairy products. "But the evidence coming out from Brazil suggests that this is not the case in South America," he said.
Mr Jones referred to reports of growth hormones - banned in Europe - being in routine use and of 25,000 people transported thousands of miles from their homes and kept as virtual slaves on some Brazilian ranches.
The European Commission is currently considering a ban on food from Brazil, because of the country's inability to control hormone residue levels in cattle and poultry.
The EC Food and Veterinary Office says that Brazil's laboratories are incapable of carrying out even limited tests to ensure the safety of its meat products.
Fears about eating beef from cattle pumped up with growth hormones have been raised by John Verrall, a member of a Government advisory committee on veterinary products.
Mr Verrall claims it can trigger cancer, bring forward puberty in girls and increase the risk of genital abnormalities in boys.
Tesco operates meat processing plants in Brazil for beef exported into Europe.
The FUW and FFE want shoppers to challenge Tesco to say whether all the Brazilian beef it sells is tested for growth hormones and other banned substances, and for diseases such as foot and mouth, which is endemic in some regions of the country.
Mr Jones said Tesco should also say whether its farms operate in an environmentally sensitive way, and whether farm workers are paid a decent living wage and not forced to buy their food from ranchers at vastly inflated prices.
"Tesco must answer all these questions," said Mr Jones. "It's not enough to pass the buck and say that the operation of individual beef farms is a matter for the ranchers.
"Customers have told us time and time again that they are concerned about animal welfare and environmental issues and they don't want people in the Third World paid poverty wages.
"It's time that Tesco and all other retailers faced up to the concerns of European consumers and guaranteed that all their food is produced ethically."
A Tesco spokeswoman said the supermarket was the largest customer of the British beef industry and 90% of the beef on sale at Cardiff came from Britain.
"We do sometimes have to source from outside the UK in order to make high quality beef products available all the year round at prices our customers can afford," she said.
"But under 3% of it, and only certain cuts of meat, comes from Brazil and where we do source from outside the UK, we insist on equivalent standards of animal welfare."
She said all products were clearly labelled with their country of origin, and rejected claims of environmental damage and slave labour as "absolute nonsense".
icwales.icnetwork.co.uk
Steve Dube, Western Mail
Sep 19 2006
UK
FARMERS from Wales, Scotland and Ireland issued a challenge to Tesco as they picketed the supermarket giant's Extra store in Cardiff last week.
They called on the company to prove that the beef it imports from Brazil is fit to eat, and does not harm the environment or enslave farm workers in the way it is produced.
More than 70 members of the Farmers' Union of Wales and the Fairness for Farmers in Europe (FFE) group lobbied shoppers arriving at Tesco Extra off Western Avenue in Cardiff on Thursday, carrying banners and handing out leaflets asking customers to question Tesco's beef purchasing policy.
FUW deputy president Emyr Jones said Welsh and other European farmers had to comply with stringent animal welfare, environmental and employment conditions to produce top quality beef, lamb and dairy products. "But the evidence coming out from Brazil suggests that this is not the case in South America," he said.
Mr Jones referred to reports of growth hormones - banned in Europe - being in routine use and of 25,000 people transported thousands of miles from their homes and kept as virtual slaves on some Brazilian ranches.
The European Commission is currently considering a ban on food from Brazil, because of the country's inability to control hormone residue levels in cattle and poultry.
The EC Food and Veterinary Office says that Brazil's laboratories are incapable of carrying out even limited tests to ensure the safety of its meat products.
Fears about eating beef from cattle pumped up with growth hormones have been raised by John Verrall, a member of a Government advisory committee on veterinary products.
Mr Verrall claims it can trigger cancer, bring forward puberty in girls and increase the risk of genital abnormalities in boys.
Tesco operates meat processing plants in Brazil for beef exported into Europe.
The FUW and FFE want shoppers to challenge Tesco to say whether all the Brazilian beef it sells is tested for growth hormones and other banned substances, and for diseases such as foot and mouth, which is endemic in some regions of the country.
Mr Jones said Tesco should also say whether its farms operate in an environmentally sensitive way, and whether farm workers are paid a decent living wage and not forced to buy their food from ranchers at vastly inflated prices.
"Tesco must answer all these questions," said Mr Jones. "It's not enough to pass the buck and say that the operation of individual beef farms is a matter for the ranchers.
"Customers have told us time and time again that they are concerned about animal welfare and environmental issues and they don't want people in the Third World paid poverty wages.
"It's time that Tesco and all other retailers faced up to the concerns of European consumers and guaranteed that all their food is produced ethically."
A Tesco spokeswoman said the supermarket was the largest customer of the British beef industry and 90% of the beef on sale at Cardiff came from Britain.
"We do sometimes have to source from outside the UK in order to make high quality beef products available all the year round at prices our customers can afford," she said.
"But under 3% of it, and only certain cuts of meat, comes from Brazil and where we do source from outside the UK, we insist on equivalent standards of animal welfare."
She said all products were clearly labelled with their country of origin, and rejected claims of environmental damage and slave labour as "absolute nonsense".
icwales.icnetwork.co.uk