Ethical Eating?

I’ve got this mate. No, really I do have mates. Anyway, this mate who is a genuinely nice guy, is a touchy, feely, the world needs help, kind of bloke. Ergo anything that he sees and which to him is either contrary to human or animal rights or indeed against anything he believes in, he goes for the throat. This week’s victim is Tesco.

In the past we’ve had the iniquities of Gitmo, where, in quoting the Geneva Convention, he conveniently forgot that that august and indeed worthy document, also forbids acts of war where the protagonists do not announce said war until they take action (this is terrorism by the way). Anyway, my mate now thinks that Tesco is right up there with G Dubbya.

Why, you may ask, is this UK retailer, a purveyor of reasonably priced comestibles, a target for my friend’s angst? Well, apparently they don’t treat their chickens very nicely. Chickens, let’s just ponder that thought. You may think otherwise but in my opinion, your average chicken eats, sleeps, crows, lays eggs if that way inclined and finally croaks in blissful ignorance. Not for your average, or indeed your intellectually superior chicken, is the problem of finding the money for the mortgage or to feed the family, although Enid Blyton and her ilk would have you thinking differently. Nor, surprisingly will you find a chicken voting for Gordon Brown………………………. Although here I may be very, very wrong.

So my mate reckons that Tesco has developed a system of analysing your Tesco Clubcard records (for those who are unaware, this is a card whereby you spend money and get discount points against purchases, similar to Airmiles) and they, Tesco, assess from this info, what we or indeed you, want to buy, and then concentrate their efforts in that direction. Well, apart from the absolute shock and indeed horror, that hit me when this was pointed out, I must say that it seems eminently suitable. I mean if I want to buy caviar and pate du fois gras, I go to Harrods or if really pushed, Selfridges. I don’t go to Tesco.

However, if I want to buy booze, reasonably priced food, such as leg of lamb, chicken, a bit of beef etc. I go to Tesco or Sainsbury etc. So what? But there’s more. Apparently in order to maximise their profits, Tesco have noted from the Clubcard records that loads of peeps are buying chicken. Well, even in my dotage here I understand that. Chicken has always been comparatively cheap so what’s new? Indeed Tesco have made sure they get cheap chicken by concentrating their purchasing efforts on those farms/plants that treat the chicken less than “ethically”. Hmm, I’m not sure how you treat a chicken ethically but there you go. Anyway, my mate has decided that we should all return our Tesco cards so that they stop treating chickens badly.

There is of course a corollary. Many people go to Tesco because they do look at what people are buying and therefore get a better deal on their purchasing. This does two things in that it maintains Tesco’s profits and more importantly it makes sure that those reasonable prices stay reasonable so those who really can’t afford Pate du Fois Gras can still eat! Unfortunately it seems my mate wants those who can’t afford to eat beef every week, to starve. Is this ethical?