Ban Foie Gras
May 25th, 2007 
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Archive for the 'Farming' Category
EU Broiler Welfare News
May 23rd, 2007 Comments(0)
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The EU lays down the law and states to what degree of misery the most abused animal on the planet gets to live its short sad life.
New rules to improve the welfare of broilers have been approved under a “political agreement” by EU ministers, making it likely that the legislation will be in place by mid-year.
The directive sets a maximum stocking density – 33kg of live animals per square metre – for intensively reared chickens. This can rise to 39kg if extra welfare measures are taken, such as the installation of ventilation systems, which keep the ammonia, CO2 temperature and humidity levels within strict limits.
Ministers also agreed that if exceptionally high welfare standards were met over a continual period, the stocking density could be further increased by 3kg per square metre. At present there is no EU legislation covering space for broilers and the new directive, which follows a surge of public demand across Europe for action, will therefore have a pronounced effect.
In other areas, the new directive stipulates that lighting in broiler sheds must include minimum periods of darkness to allow chickens to rest, fresh litter must be permanently available and proper ventilation must be in place.
Markos Kyprianou, EU commissioner for health and consumer protection, said the Commission would prepare a report on the possible introduction of specific welfare labelling for chicken meat, allowing operators who met high standards to benefit competitively.
£1 million milk subsidies
May 22nd, 2007 Comments(0)
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A farmer gets rich from farm subsidies. Surely not…there must be a mistake somewhere. They were all made poor and had to live in secondhand-hats after the foot & mouth crisis didn’t they.
TAXPAYERS MILKED FOR £1M BY A DAIRY FARM
A Scottish dairy farmer has exploited a glaring loophole in European law to annually earn the right to claim more than £1million in subsidies. William Hamilton and Sons, of Meldrum Farm, Blairdrummond, Stirling, has taken advantage of a flaw that allows it to get handouts on almost nine times the amount of milk it produces.
Under EU law, the business will continue to qualify for the lottery-size payment annually until 2012 - even if it stops producing milk.
There was political uproar last night after the Press and Journal used the Freedom of Information Act to expose the £1,097,821.78 that is legally being paid to William Hamilton and Sons.
Liberal Democrat deputy rural affairs spokesman Andrew Arbuckle branded it an abuse of the system.
SNP MSP for Moray Richard Lochhead, the party’s rural affairs spokesman, added: “The EU paymasters are bonkers if they think this system can be justified and sustained.”
Disclosure of the payment and the £37.257million being paid in compensation to 1,512 Scottish dairy farmers comes as the industry bemoans ex-farm milk prices that in many cases are below the cost of production and are forcing three UK dairy farmers a day to quit.
The compensation was introduced by the European Commission in 2004 to make good compulsory price cuts to a range of dairy products over which Europe regulates the price.
But rather than tie the subsidy to the amount of milk a farmer produced - as was demanded by the dairy sector - civil servants and Eurocrats decided instead to allow subsidies to be paid on the milk production quota that farming businesses held on March 31, 2004.
That led to fevered quota buying in the run-up to the date as farmers saw the error that could earn them extra cash.
The P &J understands the Hamiltons started 2004 with the right to produce about 5million litres of milk but by the end of March had 44.1million litres - nine times what their 500-cow dairy herd would be expected to produce.
Bill Hamilton last night declined to comment, saying they had not yet received the cash. Last year the business received £766,394.04 when compensation payments were lower.
The Scottish Executive said the claim from the Hamiltons was legitimate.
Veal Production (from 2007)
May 16th, 2007 Comments(0)
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When people on the street talk to the admin of meatismurder, there is always a little confusion over what changes the EU introduced in regards to veal production. Therefore detailed below (from CIWF) are the new rules.
Hundreds of thousands of calves are reared for veal in Europe every year. Two main systems are used on the continent:
Veal crates
These were banned in the UK over ten years ago because of the suffering they inflict. After being separated from their mothers and enduring a long stressful journey, calves are put into isolation for the rest of their lives - confined in a space so small they cannot even turn around. They are denied the opportunity to explore their environment or engage in social interaction with other calves.
The calves are fed a liquid milk-based diet deficient in iron and roughage to keep their meat pale in order to produce “white” veal. This can lead to anaemia and abnormal development of the rumen (first stomach), which makes the calves prone to infectious enteritis (scouring or diarrhoea).
Crated calves display high levels of abnormal stereotypical behaviours such as tongue rolling, chewing at their pens, self-licking and hair ingestion. By the time they come to be slaughtered at up to 6 months of age, crated calves may have difficulty walking as a result of their restricted movement in the crate.
Thanks to campaigning by CIWF, the veal crate system will be prohibited from 31 December 2006 and minimum requirements for iron and roughage will be applied to calves’ diet.
Group-housing
Group-housing is the term applied to the system which is due to replace veal crates and is already being used in many parts of Europe. But the basic requirements for these group-housing systems would still render them illegal in the UK.
Calves are kept in groups of four or five in barren sheds with slatted floors and no bedding. They do have one another’s company, but that is really the only comfort afforded to them. They risk injury from the slatted floors and still suffer the physical side affects of stress and a poor diet.
What systems are ideal?
Legislation in the UK requires calves to be provided with bedding material such as straw because this reduces abnormal stereotypical behaviours. The UK also stipulates more space and better dietary requirements than those laid out in EU law.
CIWF wants all calves to be given bedding, enough fibre and iron to be healthy and access to greater space, preferably outdoors. We will lobby for these standards to be applied throughout the whole of the Europe when EU legislation affecting their welfare on the farm comes up for review later this year.
Conclusion to the Bernard Matthews Story
April 04th, 2007 Comments(0)
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Just for completeness sake here is the conclusion to the bird flu story of recent months that saw the ten of thousands of Bernard Matthews’ healthy birds prematurely killed. Though we all know that intensively farmed turkeys live appalling, short lives before death anyway. In this case they were at least able to highlight the dangers of intensive farming to human health.
Turkeys
Turkeys aren’t just for Christmas anymore - more than 20 million are killed and eaten throughout the year in the UK.
Intensive production
The majority of turkey production is intensive, with up to 25,000 birds kept in large windowless buildings similar to broiler chicken houses.
Consequences of intensification
Many of the same welfare problems associated with broiler chicken production are found in the turkey industry. Turkeys have been genetically selected for high meat yields and to fatten in as short a time as possible. They have a natural life span of approximately 10 years, yet they are slaughtered at between 12 - 26 weeks.
In this short period they may grow to nearly twice the size of their predecessors of only 25 years ago. As a consequence, their legs become unable to support the huge weight of their breast muscle or to sustain normal posture and limb movement.
Early mortality - 2.7 million annually
Unhealthy and overcrowded conditions mean that disease amongst commercial turkeys is widespread, resulting in approximately 2.7 million turkeys (or 7% of the total) dying in their sheds every year. Foot and leg deformities, heat stress and starvation caused by the inability of immature birds to find the feed and water troughs are commonplace. Ulcerated feet and hock burns are common - caused by continual contact with litter contaminated by urine and faeces.
Artificial insemination now the norm
The accelerated growth of modern turkeys mean that the males (stags) are now too broad-breasted and heavy (weighing as much as 60lbs) to reproduce naturally. Instead, artificial insemination (AI) is applied, whereby the birds are masturbated by hand and their semen inserted into the females via tubes and catheters. Government literature gives detailed instructions on the correct way to masturbate, or “milk” males.
Aggression and de-beaking
90% of turkeys are kept in near-darkness to discourage the aggression which becomes a problem when so many birds are crammed into a confined space. Debeaking of the sort used on battery hens is also commonly carried out in the first week of the birds’ short lives. Research suggests that turkeys suffer chronic pain for 2-6 weeks after de-beaking.
Loading and transportation of poultry
Battery hens, broiler chickens and turkeys endure the same fate at the end of their productive lives. All are subjected to the ordeal of catching, transportation and slaughter. Only the further processing is different: broilers become oven-ready birds for the table, whilst end-of-lay battery hens are made into lower grade poultry products such as pies, soups, chicken stock and baby foods.
The birds are typically grabbed by the feet and thrust into crates, or “modules”, before being loaded onto lorries. Many suffer additional injuries at this time and hundreds of chickens can die from a panic-induced crush each time the catching gang enters the shed.
Others die during the journey to the killing plants, often from heart attacks. Injuries and wounds account for the other fatalities. The most common injury is dislocation of the femur (the bone between the hip and the knee). This is almost certainly the result of rough handling by catching teams.
Slaughter
Poultry slaughter methods are highly mechanised and designed to maximise speed rather than to minimise suffering. Chickens are removed from their crates/modules and suspended upside down by their legs on metal shackles. The most common method is for a conveyer to take the birds’ heads through an electrically charged water bath, with the current designed to stun and leave them insensible to pain when their throats are cut.
They are killed by severing the main blood vessels in the neck. This is usually done with an automatic knife, with a slaughterman employed as a back-up to slit the throat manually of any birds missed by the machine. Once dead, the birds are immersed in a scalding tank to loosen the feathers before plucking.
Killed whilst fully conscious
There is considerable evidence that the slaughter process is inefficient. Inadequate stunning results in some birds going to the knife and even to the scalding tank alive and possibly fully conscious. Turkey slaughter has been extensively investigated by researchers at the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC), Institute of Food Research, Langford, Bristol. Twenty six per cent of turkeys included in their survey received painful pre-stun shocks (i.e. accidental electric shocks) when birds’ wings touched the electrically charged waterbath before their heads did, or when the ramp leading to the bath became electrically live. Worst of all, studies indicated that nationally, every year, around 35,000 turkeys may be entering the scalding tank alive and perhaps conscious.
Deliberate cruelty
Evidence produced in court hearings indicate that deliberate cruelty is sometimes inflicted upon poultry in British slaughterhouses. For example, a 1993 industrial tribunal heard the case of a former employee at a poultry processing plant in Winchester in which ‘bagpiping’ was described. Slaughterhouse staff squeezed live birds in a game that involved squirting faeces over other employees.
Elsewhere, poultry catchers have told how some of their colleagues kicked, punched, tied up and force-fed chickens and turkeys to relieve the boredom and frustration of their work. (Here’s the Catch, Animal Aid 1994.)
‘Free range’ birds
The term “free range” suggests a handful of chickens or turkeys scratching around a yard. But modern free range units usually contain several thousand selectively-bred birds crammed together in each shed. Pop holes allow the inhabitants to exit and re-enter when the weather is suitable. But because of the special stresses associated with a system that pretends to be what it isn’t (the constantly shifting struggle amongst the birds for territory; their movement from heated interior to the bug-laden outside world and back again), the genetically enfeebled birds typically suffer high early mortality rates.
No charges faced by bird flu farm [src of article]
The outbreak took place in February
The Bernard Matthews plant at the centre of a bird flu outbreak will not face prosecution, the Food Standards Agency has said.
An investigation concluded there was no evidence that food waste at the plant may have been stored inappropriately.
Avian flu was found at the site in Holton, Suffolk, on 3 February and 2,600 turkeys died of it - a further 159,000 birds were culled.
Bernard Matthews said it has “systems in place” to meet hygiene requirements.
Last month restrictions on the movement of poultry in the area were lifted.
The FSA said there was “no evidence” of any offences under the Animal By-Products Regulations 2005.
Thorough examination
In a statement, the FSA said: “We have carefully scrutinised and considered the evidence in this case and concluded there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
“Accordingly, we have decided not to proceed to a prosecution in this case.”
The watchdog said its decision followed a thorough examination into possible problems with food waste storage at the plant.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Bernard Matthews said it has “always maintained that it has acted with the utmost integrity and cooperated fully with the relevant authorities”.
The firm said “the Food Standards Agency’s decision reinforces this”.
The statement went on: “We have systems in place to ensure we meet and in some cases exceed the measures imposed by Defra, the FSA and the Meat Hygiene Service.
This is an astonishing decision
Chris Huhne
Liberal Democrats
The FSA has been investigating Bernard Matthews on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
A spokeswoman for the government department said there are now no outstanding inquiries into the turkey firm which could lead to a prosecution.
Defra has said it expects its own scientific investigation into the bird flu outbreak to conclude after Easter.
The outbreak of the H5N1 flu strain at the Suffolk turkey plant prompted a cull of 159,000 birds.
An earlier Defra report, which was published in February, highlighted a number of failings at the turkey plant.
Inspectors saw gulls feeding on meat scraps which had been left in uncovered waste bins.
‘Relief’ and ‘vindication’
And polythene bags used for meat products were left in open bins.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne has described the decision not to prosecute as “astonishing”.
He said: “Given that the Defra-commissioned reports into the Bernard Matthews affair pointed clearly to breaches in the regulations, and that there was TV footage of wild birds feeding off open waste bins at the plant containing poultry meat, this is an astonishing decision.”
He said he would ask ministers to provide a full explanation of the decision not to prosecute after Parliament returned from the Easter recess.
Miles Hubbard, of the T&G union, who represented the Bernard Matthews workers throughout the outbreak, expressed “a mixture of relief, vindication and confidence” at the result.
He said there was “relief that the prosecution ‘cloud’ has been blown away and vindication as the T&G always maintained that the standards of biosecurity at Holton were sound”.
Milk causes Illness
March 30th, 2007 Comments(0)
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Further news of ill-health caused by milk. This time in its production. It is worth remembering at this time the ill-health caused to the cows in the production of the milk.
