a little upset by a tesco chicken...

I buy whole, free range chickens and joint them myself to freeze. the most recent one, however, upset me and worried me a lot.
1. it had massive hock burns. I know sometimes chickens have marks on the legs where they've sat in mud etc, but these were full on burns and there were marks on the meat too.
2. its hip joints showed signs of arthritis, generally a hip joint filled with blood and with very little cartillage on the ball means they've been sat around. it happens a lot on intensive farmed chicken.
3. there was something odd about the breast. as I pared it off the bone, the meat nearest to the bone felt slightly cooked. it was firmer and less transluscent than the rest of the boob, it was almost as if the chicken had had an electric shock somewhere near its breast bone and the heat had travelled down the bone. there was also a lot of raised blood vessels on one breast and it looked like a bruise would have formed, had the chicken lived. (I watch a LOT of CSI type programmes with autopsies lol)

I am really worried about this, and also very annoyed as it wasn't cheap. I pay £10 expecting the chicken to have been treated better. we eat much less chicken than we used to so that we can eat better reared chicken.

what do I do? write to Mr T? I kept the label with the farm identification number stamp thing on it.

yes i would. Email their customer services it wont cost anything.

their email service has a 1000 character limit so I'm going to phone them.

well i phoned the customer services, told them my concerns and they're sending me a refund and also are "going to make their suppliers aware of it" which means bugger all. if i had the whole packaging and preferably the chicken, they would do more of an investigation but as I only have the barcode bit of the bag with the farm code and red tractor on it, they can't do naaaffink.

they're sending me a refund, which is nice but it's not what I wanted. I am concerned about the chickens not about the money (although that IS a factor).

BTW has anyone noticed I'm an Ethical Eater yet?! lol. sorry there are some things Iget on my high horse about. we went free range because of the welfare. if we can't afford free range, we don't eat chicken or eggs. pork we go by welfare standards and same for beef and lamb. we used to eat a hell of a lot of meat, but we don't eat much any more because of this strong feeling.

have u got a nice butcher where you live?

not really. we have one guy on the market with a lorry who aparently doesnt sell free range stuff, and we have Bob's House of Meat which i've not honestly been into yet lol.

No advice to give but Bob's House of Meat?? Sounds like a Sweeny Todd shop for the 21st Century

Bitsy Beans wrote:No advice to give but Bob's House of Meat?? Sounds like a Sweeny Todd shop for the 21st Century

LMAO, I thought something the same. Then I thought was it something like "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"? Then I thought maybe it was a lapdancing club...

ugh that is terrible. It just make's me glad I don't eat meat.

Bitsy Beans wrote:No advice to give but Bob's House of Meat?? Sounds like a Sweeny Todd shop for the 21st Century

ohnestly, that's why I've not been in yet!!!