The Importance of Buying British Beef

There’s nothing more British than beef! It has stood the test of time and is the envy of the world.

The quality of beef varies from breed to breed. Traditional breeds, are more prone than others to have flecks of unsaturated fat running through the meat. This is known as ‘marbling’ and gives the meat greater flavour when cooked and stops it from drying out.

Breeds:

• Aberdeen Angus – a native British breed dating back to the 1800s and arguably the best known and most numerous beef cattle breed in the world. Its beef is well marbled with creamy-white fat interwoven throughout the close-grained texture, preventing it from becoming hard and leathery.
• Hereford – one of the oldest and most important cattle breeds in British livestock history. Its beef is of the highest quality and has a distinctive flavour – it is tender and very well-marbled giving a depth of flavour to the meat.
• Lincoln Red (original population) – developed to thrive on the cold marshes of Lincolnshire. The flesh is well marbled and so the meat has an excellent flavour.
• North Devon and South Devon – produce meat with perfect marbling and fat coverage that, when hung for the appropriate length of time, produce very tender and flavoursome beef. Some herds are referred to as ‘Red Devon’ or ‘Red Rubies’ because of the breeds’ red colouring.
• Sussex – one of the oldest and purest breeds of British cattle. The Normans found Sussex cattle in the south of England at the time of the conquest in 1066.

Beef labelled ‘British’ must derive from animals born, reared and slaughtered within the UK. This mean that all stages of the food chain have been independently checked to ensure that they meet the required standards. Do not assume that meat from a British breed was farmed here; there are lots of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford producers overseas. I’m sure many are top quality, but there’s no way of guaranteeing that.

The flavour of beef is affected by breed, feed and welfare as well how the beef is cooked and what flavours are added. Beef produced from grasslands will be higher in natural sugars than beef from cattle raised on marshlands. ‘Suckler beef’ is the product of a farming method whereby the mother and calf are kept together for longer with the calf suckling for up to six months. The increased milk in the calf’s diet affects the eventual flavour of the meat.

Traditional butchers never let you down and are great at explaining the pedigrees of their meat. Opting for British beef means sustaining British farmers whose occupation helps to preserve the British countryside the way we yearn for it to appear.

British beef is delivered to the uppermost conceivable standards around the globe and there are strict protocols to abide by regarding hygiene, animal welfare and traceability. For insistence new-born calves are ear-tagged, twice, with a unique identification code and its herd number.

Livestock identification traceability systems archives the animals mother, date and place of birth as well as its tag details, which are imputed in to a national database. Unlike in many overseas countries, GM feed and growth-promoting hormones are banned in the UK, while antibiotics can only be given to cattle with approval and direction from a vet.

At the same time, the final stage of the process is conducted out under stiff guidelines; vets and hygiene officers must attend all abattoirs and the slightest breach of welfare rules or sign of contamination during slaughter means work is stopped until the problem is corrected.

Approximately two million animals are raised for beef in the UK each year, about half from beef herds and half born to dairy herds. When they’re old enough, the calves are weaned for a period of months before they’re suitable for finishing. They’ll be complete for the abattoir at between 12 and 30 months of age.

The beef industry in this country has not had a comfortable jaunt over the previous couple of decades. BSE, prohibitions on exports and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001 were disastrous. On the other hand, the recovery has been remarkable. Not only did the industry survive, but it also enriched standards to grow into the envy of many countries around the world.

In the last few years, there have been lots of negative news reports about eating too much red meat. But very few mention its importance as part of a balanced diet. Beef is a great source of protein and essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, zinc, B vitamins, magnesium and selenium.

Beef labelled ‘British’ must derive from animals born, reared and slaughtered within the UK. This mean that all stages of the food chain have been independently checked to ensure that they meet the required standards. Do not assume that meat from a British breed was farmed here; there are lots of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford producers overseas. I’m sure many are top quality, but there’s no way of guaranteeing that.

The flavour of beef is affected by breed, feed and welfare as well how the beef is cooked and what flavours are added. Beef produced from grasslands will be higher in natural sugars than beef from cattle raised on marshlands. ‘Suckler beef’ is the product of a farming method whereby the mother and calf are kept together for longer with the calf suckling for up to six months. The increased milk in the calf’s diet affects the eventual flavour of the meat. Suckler herds are widespread.

Meat is left to age in order to give the enzymes an opportunity to dissolve the connective tissues and this result in more tender meat. For this process to take place, the carcass is either hung in a cool, well-ventilated place or the butchered meat is left in a vacuum pack.

Do not rely solely on the number of days that meat has been aged as a sign of quality as other factors such as temperature and humidity will have an impact on the optimum ageing time.

The best advice is to look for the Red Tractor logo. These days even the finest food markets in Paris are demanding British beef for their most discerning customers.