Labels lacking

Where does the horse meat come from?

Well, 65,000 horses are packed into lorries and taken thousands of miles across Europe for slaughter each year, with no food or water, just the journey of Hell for them.

Compassion in World Farming is campaigning to get compulsory labelling of all animal products – not just stating whether it is beef, lamb or pork, but with information to say where the animal was reared, how far they were transported and whether they came from a factory farm.

At present, only higher welfare products carry labels like “free range” or “organic”.

Customers need to know how animals are reared and can then avoid animal products using pigs, for example, which have had their tails docked without anaesthetic, or have been confined on slippery, slatted floors with no straw.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, an estimated 27 per cent of hens go lame before they get to slaughter.

Undercover cameras have recorded the appalling cruelty meted out to the animals awaiting slaughter.

This has resulted, fortunately, in CCTV cameras being installed in some slaughterhouses, in the hope that those working there will behave more humanely.

It is up to customers to choose carefully and insist on accurate comprehensive labelling.

Supermarkets are anxious to please their customers, so, complain to them.

Jean Etherington

Waverley Road

Rustington