Your meat from farm to fridge

Are animals reared on organic farms drug-free?
Not necessarily. Antibiotics, wormers and vaccines cannot be used routinely, but conventional medicines can be given to ease suffering. Homeopathy and herbal medicines are, however, popular alternatives.

STAGE 3: the end of the road… or welcome to the cutting plant
After being fattened up, the animals are transported in huge ventilated lorries to meet their fate. They may be sold at market first, but this is usually just a delaying tactic. Let’s face it, most animals don’t end up as pets.

Small local butchers might slaughter the animals themselves, and cut them up for sale in their shops. Alternatively, animals will end up in larger ‘cutting plants’, where they are killed and cut up, before being sold on to restaurants or other outlets. Supermarkets have links with ‘meat plants’, where the animals walk in one end – and come out neatly packaged at the other.

Chickens
Broilers are ready to go to the great chicken coop in the sky in 40-56 days. Free-range chickens may take longer. Chickens that are reared for egg production are killed once they stop laying, at about 72 weeks. The chickens are first stunned electronically and then their necks cut on a production line. The dead birds are then left to bleed for a minimum of 15 minutes before being plunged in a scalding tank (which makes plucking easier). The process is overseen by a vet.