Creuse is still the safest place to live in France - The Bugle

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2010
FEATURE ♦
13
usin Cow
Is veal still a four
letter word
UK and France
Veal (‘veau’ in French) has the power to stir
up the emotions like no other meat. Only
foie gras and its accompanying gavage
(force-feeding) presents such a clear-cut
case of animal cruelty in the mind of many people.
Talking about veal is bound to get at least one person
at your dinner table hot under the collar. The meat has
a particularly contentious recent history in the UK,
where a series of animal welfare scandals in the late
1980s effectively removed veal from the menu. Until
very recently fewer than 1 in 100 households admitted
to buying and eating veal, a meat that represents only
0.1% of all meat sales in the UK.
What is veal and where does it come from
Veal is the meat from young calves, typically slaughtered
when they are about 6 months old. Essentially, veal is a
by-product of the dairy industry. As you would expect,
approximately half of all calves born on a dairy farm
are male, and therefore are of no use to the dairy farmer.
It is these calves that form the backbone of the veal
industry and what happens to them in their short life is
what makes veal such a controversial meat.
Veal has long had an important place in French culinary
heritage and is still a relatively common dish in any
French restaurant. Visit even the smallest market
butcher in France and you can expect to see at least a few
cuts. Even in traditional veal strongholds like France,
however, attitudes are slowly changing in favour of
less ‘cruel’ methods of veal production. Looking at the
recent history of veal consumption and production in
the UK gives an insight into where the industry might
be heading in mainland Europe.
Traditional methods of veal production
To understand how modern veal production works, you
must shine a light on the dark ways of the veal crate,
a system that, until recently, operated across much of
mainland Europe. Under this system, dairy bull calves
are separated from their mothers after only a few days
and tethered in boxes measuring as little as 60 cm by
120 cm. The boxes have slatted floors that make it
there was public outrage and veal sales plummeted to
levels from which they never recovered. Successful
campaigning resulted in a UK ban on veal crates in
1990. This effectively stopped veal production in
the UK but did not remove the problem of what to
do with the massive numbers of unwanted dairy bull
calves, which were subsequently exported after birth
to mainland Europe via a gruelling 20 hour journey
on cramped lorries. The calves would then be reared
abroad, under lower animal welfare standards than
they had previously received in the UK, before being
re-imported for the brave few still determined to eat
the taboo meat.
Attempts to ban live animal exports failed and the
practice continued until the BSE crisis did finally
put an end to them. The dairy bull calves were then
typically slaughtered at birth.
Rosé veal – an ethical alternative
A new movement has been underway for several
years now to produce a more humane form of veal -
‘rosé veal’. Rosé veal has become the meat of choice
for the conscientious carnivore. Calves are suckled
by their mothers, eat natural food and live outdoors
in summer. The calves live like this for about six
months, enjoying a longer life than chickens, lambs
and many pigs that are destined for the butcher’s
shop.
As welfare campaigners have put it, if you drink
milk or eat cheese, you have a responsibility to
think about what happens to the male dairy calves.
They believe that free-raised rosé veal represents an
ethical solution to the problem of what to do with the
unwanted dairy bull calves. In 2007, less than 5% of
veal calves were raised in a free-raised environment.
By 2009, this increased to 35%.
e way. Not only are the French and English names for different joints
r. Below are the names and locations of the most common cuts of beef
Veal crates are a thing of the past in Europe
difficult for the calf to stand and the cramped conditions
prevent the calf from turning around. The calf will live
in this box for its short life of around five months, being
fed a liquid diet, often of powdered milk. The resulting
muscle atrophy produces a meat that is low in fat,
very tender and anaemically pale. This method of veal
production produces what is known as ‘white veal’.
Animal welfare issues
When the practice was exposed in the UK in the 1980’s
Rosé veal calves often grow up with their mothers
The Good Veal Campaign, launched in 2006 in the
UK with the backing of farmers, chefs and food
activists such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has
attempted to raise the profile of rosé veal and carve
out a new market for veal consumption in the UK.
They face a touch PR battle against a resistant public,
although they are making some strides. Since 2008
Marks and Spencer’s has only stocked rosé veal in
its stores and other major retailers are following suit.
In 2007, veal crates were finally banned across the
whole of the EU. Slatted floors are still commonly
used and the veal calves are raised in groups in
sheds where the space allowance per animal remains
relatively small. Attitudes are slowly changing
and rosé veal is becoming more and more popular
alongside the traditional white veal, veau. ■